The Mistakes That He Made
by SimplyUnmistakable
Summary: AU Something goes wrong with the Moon plan and Obito is thrown back in time, back in his twelve years old body. It's another chance, but a chance to rethink your decisions doesn't mean you'll end up making the good ones. Obito/Rin
1. Prologue

Walking among corpses of the people that had once been his fellow ninjas, Obito was following Madara, with the great Ten-Tailed just behind, under his orders. It was time he started their big plan.

The Ten-Tailed was whole and powerful. The Moon was up. Madara was starting the seals. Everything would be over soon. Beginning, actually. This was the beginning of a new, better era, not an end.

The Ten-Tails started losing its actual form, transforming into pure energy, flying into the air and revolving around Madara in a thick circle of red light. Obito was now only watching, counting silently down, waiting for the right things to happen. He was following the spinning of the Tails' energy absently.

Bang! A blue ball smashed the ceremonial statue from behind, destroying Madara's concentration. Both his and Obito's attention were caught by the blonde boy they had thought dead, falling breathlessly to the ground just now. He had gotten up for one last shot. Unfortunately, that shot had been enough to destroy everything. Madara was rushing to the statue, trying to save it, but it was useless. It was crumbling down.

"He was YOURS to finish," Obito shouted at him, seeing all his hard work falling now to pieces.

The Tails' energy got lost in the open air. Obito knew what could that mean. The power was uncontrollably going to destroy that world. He cursed, kicking the lifeless now body of that damn Nine-Tailed container's, who'd fallen on his face. The hit turned the body around. Obito flinched, jumping back. The boy had died with eyes open. Seeing them Obito could swear, in the first moment, there were his old sensei's eyes, looking into his soul.

Calming himself, he looked around for Madara. But Madara was no longer there. Actually, no one was longer there. Actually, nothing was longer there. There was no Madara, no corpse, no tree, no rock and no earth. What was going on? The only thing he could spot in the open space was energy, Tails' energy flying freely around. What was it doing? Where was he? Where was... the world?

It was all a void and he felt he was falling asleep on his feet. It went dark and silent and for a while, he couldn't hear a thing. And when he did hear and see once more, he couldn't believe his ears and only eye, before it to be carefully taken out by a crying Rin. Little by little he sank that in. He recognized the moment too well. As if he could ever forget that day - the day he had officially died.

How the Ten-Tailed made it possible he didn't know, but he wouldn't think of that for the moment. Cold-blooded, unlike the very exact moment, eighteen years ago for him, for his mind. When the moment came, he spoke those words he remembered too well, once more, "Take care of Rin," hoping the bitterness and irony wouldn't be sensed in his voice. When the affirmative answer came, he grimaced, going really well how false the promise would be. The rocks fell around him and he fell unconscious, knowing really well what's going to come next...

When Madara first showed up this time, he didn't act like the clueless, silly way he had acted back then. Speaking in a voice too hollow to belong to the twelve year old he was again, this time he said, "I know who you are, what your plans are and, at a point in the future, I followed it. But now, I don't know anymore..." The old man was confused, but he had other things to think about now.

He knew now the mistakes he had done while following the plans. He knew what he should prevent and how. But also...

What to build an imaginary place for, a world unreal, when she was there again, licing for real once again. And he knew everything there was going to be and how and when to save her. Because he could save her. He could screw all plans of grandeour and perfection and save her for real.

He only had the time to glance at her once, yet it affected him enormously. It affected everything he had believed in for all those years, everything he had fought for. Alive. She was alive. His clan was alive. His sensei was alive. Everything that had once meant anything to him was here again, waiting outside of those stones. If he could, he would have jumped from that bed, he would have went out there to convice himself of whatever he felt, find out what he had to do now. He knew the year, month, day and even hour of the events that would happen eighteen, long eighteen years from now. Did he want to change anything? Were there things he wanted to be part of? Were there things he didn't want to be part of anymore?

But there was one thing he knew for sure. She would live. No matter what. He didn't care what would happen to Kakashi, to the Leaf, to a whole world. But she would live. For now, that was his only promise for the future to come.

A/N: Yes, this is a second Rin/Obito story started. Why? Because I wanted to analyze two different Obitos. This Obito, who saw Rin die and lived for revenge for al those years and one other Obito, in the other story, who didn't deal with all this. Of course, their lives will develop differently. The thing that is constant for both? Rin is there as part of any decision they make.


	2. He sleeps in the ruins

All of those months that followed, spent in hard training and waiting, he kept wondering. He kept thinking about what he should do. What was the right thing to do?

Sometimes, once he was able to move normally again, he went outside, watching the world. And it disgusted him. That world of war. It disgusted him to see all that spilled blood. Once again, the thought of just following Madara's plans got to him. He thought it was no use in changing anything. He told himself nothing really mattered. But then he dreamed her again at night. And those next mornings made him believe that maybe things could be different. To save her. To be with her. But then he looked himself in the reflection of a lake and remembered how both his face and soul were scarred beyond reparation. He was a monster in all means. If Rin would ever know what he did... But, practically, he hadn't done anything yet, right? No crime existed yet. But they did, actually. Everything existed in his heart, in his mind.

Why had he been so badly cursed. This was a curse, not another chance. He was cursed to live a life of resentments for one more time. Another war. Another spilled blood. Fighting the haunting ghosts one more time.

And so, building more hate and agony, time passed. And it came. That one day. And he was counting the seconds. He had thought he could control himself. He had thought he could resist it, but two hours before her death would happen, he was out there, hiding, waiting.

And soon they came, Kakashi and Rin. They were trying not to get noticed. Little did they know. The Mist ninjas were there in minutes. The worst part was coming. And he couldn't make a decision. It was killing him. His heart was eating itself inside-out. His feet decided for him. Moving ritmically, there were taking him there. The mask was on his face, his hands trembling with anger and nervosity.

Kakashi realized they had no chance. He raised his arm, but soon he was knocked out. A hit Obito hadn't even prevented had his ex-comrade lying on the ground, unconscious. He raised his head to Rin. The girl was petrified with fear. He just raised his hand and she stepped back.

"He was trying to strike you. He's just unconscious," he found himself apologizing, but he was not sure if she heard a thing, as one of the enemies, thinking he was one of them, helping, aimed for her. Obito reacted too late. Even though he saved her from the deadly shot, she got hit in the head and fell unconscious. And that moment it happened. He knew she was not dead this time. He knew the blood around her was the enemy's he had just killed, but the image was too familiar. The memory was too alive now. That rage he had felt that day came back to life, powerful and destructive. Just like those years ago, he has gone mad, killing each of them, blood flying all around.

When it was over, it got him breathing hard. Full of others' blood, he stepped on the bodies again, going to where she was lying.

"Rin," he whispered, lifting her head gently. He could hear her breath now, soundly, close, and for just a moment, he felt an inexplicable happiness, something he had forgotten the meaning of, too much time ago. And then she opened for eyes. He gasped, as if he was the witness to a miracle. And that moment, he was tempted to shout, "I'm alive, Rin! I'm alive! Help me. Or kill me. But save me one way or another, Rin! You're the only one who can..."

But he resisted the thought. Backing away slowly, he got out of there before the girl fully awakened.

When Minato got there with the back-up, he found Rin still trying to bring Kakashi back to his senses. When the soon-to-be Yondaime asked who killed all those people, she said, "A man in orange mask. He appeared from nowhere and disappeared just the same."

And "nowhere" was back into Madara's shelter, where the old man was asking once again for an answer to his request. Obito's head was buzzing with thoughts. The war wasn't over. It would go on and, even though he had saved her in time now, couldn't she die next time, when he might end up too late? Had it had any worth? Reviving all of those feeling. Why would he let himself go through it all again? And why would the world matter anymore? If he wouldn't start the plan, if he let things as they are, would everything turn out ok? Could he be sure people wouldn't die anymore? No. The shinobi world would still be a chaos. Still madness. Still loss.

Once again, he accepted Madara's offer. Once again, Madara died, leaving it all in his hands. Starting that day, he promised himself he wouldn't look for her anymore. But he broke it. He sent clones to check on her, at first, telling himself it was not such a big deal to just get informed. But that trasformed in him following her, not much after. That was the biggest mistake ever. Just knowing she was somewhere there wasn't affecting him so much. But seeing her, hearing her voice... that was all different.

The next lie he tricked his own mind with was that it would all stop when the war would be over. And so he waited, still protecting her. Not that she needed to be protected, most of times. Time and tough missions have made Rin stronger and harder to take by surprise. It made him even angrier to know that. She shouldn't have seen so much more comrades die. She shouldn't have been forced to kill.

The worst was that now that she was so much more focused, he could swear she knew he was always there. Some times she'd look in a way, other time she'd say something that had him believe so. Not that she could know he was alive. But Rin had clearly seen the one in the orange mask. She probably did not know who he was, but she was aware of his presence. It made him realize once again that he needed to stop following her. And he promised himself, "As soon as the war ends".

Eventually, the end of the war came. Rin was alive. And Obito was more miserable than ever. He stuck to his promise for almost a week, then, one night when heading back to the cave, he stopped, all of a sudden, and headed to Konoha. He had no idea where he was going and why. But when he got just close to the gates, he saw the reason clearly, walking side by side with Kakashi. They were walking slowly, tiredly. The boy was telling her something, in a low voice. Actually, it seemed like they were having an argument. He was repeatedly muttering something and she was getting really pissed off.

"I can take care of myself, Kakashi!" she shouted in the end and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi got angry himself.

"Away from your iritability! You are like this since that ambush and I'm tired of it!" Before he could say anything, she adds with irony, "Oh, and don't worry, if there's some monster in the bushes, I shout!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes, but went on walking. There was some truth in her bitter words. They were at peace now. He shouldn't act so overprotective. Plus, there were the guards at the gates. Just to make sure, he told them Rin was around there and, if they noticed something strange, or she was late, yo check on her.

Obito watched the girl walk not too far from the gates, but so that the guards wouldn't see her. He was just staying in the nearest tree, looking at the now fourteen years old girl, who was just looking down now, thoughtful, when he heard her say, "Could you come down from there, please?"

The request had him stuck into place. He had always thought she was aware of his presence, but this sudden happening took him by surprise. He knew the clever thing to do was get away from there, yet he got down, walking slowly towards her.

"You should listen to your friend and stay away from dangerous situation," he told her, stopping two or three steps farther. He knew his voice was changed. She wouldn't know it was him. He was wearing the mask and he was taller. The darkness of the night wouldn't let the color of his hair, now short again, noticed. She wouldn't know it was him, even though he was fighting the need to tell her.

"If you were danger, you would have killed me back then, on the battlefield," she said, still thoughtful, still looking down.

"Maybe I was just put on the run by the back-up team back then," he stated, making her lift her head.

"Yet you didn't kill me when I was alone either," he said skeptically. He flinched. She noticed it and was now looking straight at him. He was holding his head up, using the tallness advantage and darkness to not let his Sharingan noticed. As prevention, he also kept his eye half closed.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Why would it matter? You don't know me," and it was true. Rin knew only the sweet cuild Obito, not this man who had nothing to do with that past.

"Why are you following me?"

"Because I cannot do otherwise." It wasn't the clearest answer, but that's all he knew himself.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to."

"Stop playing with my mind."

"I'm sorry if that's what it looks like."

The conversation was getting her frustrated. They stood there, in silence, for some more time, before she shook her head and turned around, walking away. After some steps, she turned back around, expecting to see him disappeared, but there he was, looking at her. For a second, she thought she saw something red shining behind the mask and shivered, but brushed it off immediately.

"Will you be here tomorrow night?"

"Will you?"

"Probably."

"Then I will be too."

He wasn't accepting an invitation. He was just stating a fact. She shivered again at that, then walked towards the gates. On her way, she turned her head in his direction for several times. And he was still there when she entered the village.


	3. Pair in the dark

On his way back to the cave, he couldn't believe what had just happened. What he had done. He should have vanished as soon as she called for him, but no, he followed the voice like he was hypnotized. He was just a fool. He shouldn't have lost his mind like that. He didn't know what to think anymore. Of only one thing he was sure. That the next night, whether he's going to try and fight it or not, he was going to be there, near the gates, where she would 'probably' come.

On his way there, his thoughts weren't of Rin. He was only thinking about how it was the 8th of October and how, despite the change he dared to make, playing with destiny, a really important detail remained the same: on 10th of October, a boy with the name of Uzumaki Naruto was going to be born. He checked the events closely. In two days, the madness had to be put in motion. What the hell was he going to do?

When he got there, he couldn't see her anywhere. He thought she had changed her mind, but then a hitai-ate shone from down there, on the grass. She was lying there, looking at the stars.

"I hope you don't mind stargazing," she said, not even moving her sight from the stars.

"Stargazing is for dreamers, so it kind of fits me," he replied, lying down, too, arms crossed at the back of his head. It had been long since he had spent time so carelessly, but he knew better than to get used to such. He had his guard up and well he did, because the next thing she said was, "You killed those Mist ninjas and saved us during that battle. Are you a Konoha ninja?"

"Used to be..." It was the truth. It was not risky.

"Why are you no longer?"

"I have... a mission." It was still the truth. It was still not risky.

"What kind of missions do missing nin dreamers have?"

"I'm not really a missing nin, but yeah, it's quite a dreamer's mission." Still the truth. Yet, quite of risky. Thankfully, she didn't ask further. It was like she did see the barrier in his voice and decided it was safe for none for her to cross that. It was silent. A bird chipped in the distance.

"Do you think birds talk about people in their own little language?" she asked, all of a sudden.

"What?" Did she just speak up the most random thing ever just to get rid of the silence? He turned his face in her direction. She was still looking up, so, thankfully, he could watch her profile freely, not afraid she'd notice the red glimpse in his eye. From the first moment, he realized she was actually talking serious, looking all thoughtful about it, messing her face with concern. A stray of amusement rose through his chest. He felt like letting out a laugh for a moment, that itchy feeling present down his throat, but he didn't. His whole being felt strange towards this long forgotten sensation and he would have probably ended up choking, like someone taking up a cigar after a really long period.

"And what does a bird think when they hear a human speak?" she continued, "I bet they're like 'What do you think is that sound, pal? Are they trying to sing? It doesn't even sound good at most of them' and the other answers 'Don't be so cruel, pal. They're just some not developed, huge primitive creatures. Birdy-God, they don't even have feathers!'" Suddenly, she straightened up, folding her legs, all sober. "I'm sorry. I'm talking a lot of nonsense…," she apologized, feeling stupid.

"No, it was really interesting, actually," he reassured her and rose up, too, keeping once again his eye half shut. The feeling of easiness and freedom was gone as soon as it came.

Somehow, when hearing her voice, anything else ceased to exist and it felt like one of those carefree times, before the war, when they had still dreamed of the future. And they had been staying on a bench, just the two of them, talking. So many plans he had once had. So many of them he had used to share with her. But it wasn't then. Now twenty years separated that moment from this one and a thousand of losses and regrets.

"I doubt that…," she smiled a bit, then sobered, looking in the distance. "You know, I have no idea why I came here," she laughed humorlessly, looking back at him. "Don't get me wrong, but this is… strange? Strange would fit this well, I guess."

"It is. What if I'm a spy?"

"Well, would you like to hear about my last mission, who I fought and why?"

"No, it doesn't sound too pleasant to hear."

"Test passed. You're not a spy. Or you're just a bad one. Though, I'd be quite the weak one a spy would choose," she confessed, more to herself, leaning against a tree.

"That's stupid!" he protested, maybe louder than he should have. The roughness in his voice made her wince.

"No, it isn't," Rin shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something in support of her protest, but shut it back again immediately, hesitating.

He wished he could tell her a lot of things. He wished, but he couldn't. But she was not weak. She shouldn't think like that. Rin had always been courageous and he could have given her so many reasons, so many examples. But his hands were tied, his mouth was shut. Silence was coating everything.

"I better go," she said after a while, walking away. Then she stopped for a moment to add, "I won't be here tomorrow. I mean not tomorrow and forever. Tomorrow and a few days more. I'll be in a mission." And with that, she left for real.

After she had spoken those words, he knew just one thing. That, with Rin gone, no one would be there to keep him from what he had to do; release he Nine-tailed. Minato-sensei would die, same as his wife, Kushina. And the boy… He realized this was his chance to get rid of the boy. Uzumaki Naruto was the reason for which many things would go wrong with his plan in the future. He knew every detail of the next days' happenings and could totally make it work. While Minato-sensei and Kushina handled the beast…

As he was thinking so, he saw Rin entering the gates. Guilt filled his whole body. He started feeling ashamed of his plans. He had felt nothing when he had done it the first time. But now…

But he couldn't lose such a chance. A chance to have Madara brought to life by Pain, as he had originally wanted. A chance to not have anyone as Sasuke's consciousness. A chance for Konoha to might not even have a Hokage. No one to save Gaara of the Sand. No one to save Konoha. No one to save the world.

He had to do it. He just had to not think of Rin for a while. Or think of what she'd think of him if she ever found out. Yet, how would it be when he'd meet her again, knowing his crimes? Crimes that would be real again. From then on, it would be no use in lying himself that his crimes didn't exist yet. But there was also no use in thinking he could just stop seeing Rin. He couldn't just stop looking for her.

On the 10th of October, instead of the walk to Konoha's gates, he was going to Kushina's shelter. He had never thought he'd see Minato-sensei ever again. He wondered… how it would feel… if he would feel anything this time, to begin with. Last time, everything was numb inside him. Today, he still felt… attachments, longing, and life… mostly pain concerning those… such disturbing things.

He approached the shelter. From where he was, he could see the guardians, wearing masks. He checked the time. Two hours. He knew even the exact minute. There was no use in hurrying. All the time in the world… All the necessary time to leave the recent events somewhere in the back of his mind and focus on the important parts, like…

"What the hell are you doing here?" am angry whisper came from behind. He recognized the voice immediately. That was not possible… So the mission she had talked about was…

"You…," he turned around, shaking his head slightly, but unnoticeably.

"So… what are you doing here?" she repeated. Damn. She was real. Close. Why? Why would she have to be there? Why today? Why?

"Oh, you know, I'm planning to kill everybody, create some chaos through the village and stuff," he replied all that in a deeply ironical tone. Even though she'd hopefully never gone what was the real irony in that, Rin laughed. Even he smiled behind the mask. He didn't even know why. Maybe just because of the irony of the trick fate played on him. Or maybe he just liked the way she laughed.

"So you followed me?"

"No, I had no idea we'd meet," he said without thinking of what he was saying.

"Then why are you here?"

"Haven't I told you already? Kill people and…"

"Stop messing with my mind."

"I'm sorry if that's what it looks like."

The last part was talked in amused voices by both. As for him, he guessed he was so beaten up by destiny; he might as well laugh about it. He couldn't even think of what such turn would this mean to the future plans he had, a future he had lived once. Suddenly, not only that his advantage of knowing everything would disappear, but he was throwing himself in the middle of a dangerous game. Only because of a single change. A single change, and things fell to pieces. But what could he do? What to do when Rin was here? When Rin knew about his presence?

"I told them I'll go take a look around. I need to get back," she said.

"Anyways, what's going on here?" He felt he needed to ask that, like any guy just following a girl.

"You aren't a spy, so it's not relevant information for you," she winked and left.

For the next two hours, he just stood there, not moving a little, smiling at himself like a mad man, like someone who had just lost everything, losing his pride in self pity. Of all the possible scenarios, of all the possible circumstances…

"It's a boy," Minato-sensei's face showed through a crack of the door, smiling like an idiot. "And Kushina's alright – no complications," he added.

Minato-sensei's eyes were still red. Obito remembered the guy cried of happiness the day his son had been born.

Earlier, he kept questioning himself… if he'd feel something this time. And he did. He couldn't believe that, deep down, he almost walked there and revealed himself, to join the general happiness. What the hell?

While crawling his feet from there, he cursed the fact that the rocks hadn't fallen on his left part instead, to crash that damn heart that was still beating inside him, making him live in hell.


	4. All she had to do was smile

"So the fox escaped us, huh?" Zetsu approached Obito. The boy was just sitting in a corner of the cave, sinking in the idiotic things he had brought upon himself. And he surely wasn't in the mood to hear it all again.

"Go away, Zetsu."

"You're losing your path," black Zetsu commented bitterly, while the white one wandered around, doing random things, not bothering with the serious discussion which was taking place there. The white part was just a usual clone, after all. The black part contained deceased Madara's undying will.

"I'm NOT losing my path!" Obito protested loudly, starting to get upset, mostly about himself.

"It's not like something just went wrong with the mission. You just stood there!" Zetsu continued in the same tone. "You have to go on with the plan. With the will!" Zetsu caught one of his shoulders, emphasizing his words, widening his eye, just like Madada. It was driving Obito crazy.

"You are not Madara!" Obito shouted at the top of his lungs, hitting towards the black Zetsu with all his force. However, the clone diluted itself to the ground right before, reforming itself a few steps further.

"No, YOU should be Madara, remember?" the clone continued its charade, but kept a safety distance from the dark-haired boy. Obito was much too strong already, he should have known better. He'd lay him down in a second's move. He had to play persuasive, yet be careful with him. Obito was still a teenage boy, after all, while he held the experience and will of the legendary Uchiha Madara.

"Let's say it straight, Obito. You're all charmed by this pretty little girl, it's obvious. A foolish crush. Your first crush. For a silly crush and a silly girl, you're giving up on…" But he didn't get to finish. Obito was immediately next to him, with the aim to kill. Black Zetsu could barely get away from his hits. And he had Madara's dexterity, damnit!

"And now you're totally losing your head, boy," black Zetsu continued to talk, but he soon realized he had no chance in making himself heard for now, so he just got out of there for now, letting the kid duel with his stupid teenage insecurities. For such a powerful one, he could be such a soft thing…

* * *

She arrived at home late at night. It was quiet, as usual. Sometimes, she wished she had at least a pet to welcome her.

Kakashi had just left her at her house's door. He freaking insisted on accompanying her after coming to meet Minato-sensei's and Kushina-sama's newborn baby boy, because "it was late". She would have invited him for a tea, to keep her company for a while, if he wouldn't have been so annoying. What would have happened if "it was late"? She wasn't some ordinary peasant. She could rely on her power at least in dealing with such little things! But being alone was even more annoying. And she was so alone…

She recalled how, a couple of years ago, she was really good friends with Kurenai, for example. They had been chatting about boys, mostly. Kurenai had a crush on Asuma. Or at least had used to. She hadn't heard from her for long. And she… She had used to talk to Kurenai about her crush on Kakashi. Kami, she hid her face every time she remembered the silly things she had used to say, like descriptions of the kids they would have one day. And about his eyes, his hair and wondering how his lips looked under that mask and… such silly things!

But time had passed… She had realized that spending time only with Kakashi wasn't the same. She didn't want a boyfriend-Kakashi anymore. She just wanted her team back, her friends, even Minato-sensei. She wanted her team as it had once been, not the overprotective Kakashi, the always busy ex-sensei and Obito, who was… She couldn't still be alright with the fact that Obito had died that young, that he had died, to begin with. For her, it was all still real, still painful, and Kakashi and sensei still refused to talk about it, even as the old scar it was now. But she couldn't act like Obito had never existed. Or like she hadn't played a part in his death…

She wished there would have just been someone to talk to. She had slowly detached from friends, so friends had slowly detached from her, too.

She thought back at the orange-masked guy. Maybe that's why she had gotten so easily over the fact that she barely knew anything about him and sought his company. He was there to talk to her. Or, so it seemed. She was still looking for a reason for which someone like him, hiding his identity, would constantly look for her. From what it looked like, he was not a spy. He didn't seek to find out important things about the village, or about her, actually. Mostly, he listened to her and answered her questions. And that's all she really needed. Anyways, if he would have wanted to gain her trust in order to gain information, he would have shown his face, tried to seem all transparent. She knew well the procedures of a spy. Instead, he was hidden, a walking enigma. Maybe that was another reason for her still looking for him, too.

Outside, it started to rain. At least, she would be off from work tomorrow. She just hoped the rain would stop by the next evening, though. Because she wanted to get through the gates the next night. Meet him again. He'd be there, she knew it. No matter the rain. She just didn't want to have to explain to the shinobi at the gates why she would go on a walk, out the village, with such weather.

* * *

"Because I like rain, damnit!"

Of course, things never go the way you want them to. That next evening, it was raining heavily.

"Look, I know Kakashi is aware I walk round here every evening. And that he has you two keeping an eye on me. But I'm tired of this and you should all stop getting into my life!" She stormed out the village, shivering from the coldness, but also trembling with anger. She walked around the places where she'd seen him that far, but there was no sign of the orange-masked guy. So she sat down for some minutes. Maybe she came too early. Maybe he was on his way. Just maybe. But it was getting colder and colder. She started becoming impatient. Her clothes were soaked in water. Her lips were turning purple.

"You'll catch a cold," a voice warned her disappointedly from the tree above.

"I told you I need some space!" she shouted back to Kakashi through her clenched teeth.

"And you couldn't find a dry one?" he argued sarcastically. And, seriously, what could she tell him as a good reason to be there? "They told me you went out in the rain, like mad!" he continued, getting off his tree, coming to pick her up, but she stood up herself, taking a step back from him.

"I don't need protection!" she spat back at him, even though the way she looked right then said the opposite.

He sighed, but seemed to understand he couldn't convince her. "Can you promise me you'll go home soon?" He could at least get to a compromise with her. How much would she actually stay out in the rain?

"I'll come now," she gave up, but then added, "Go ahead. I'll walk at my own pace." He nodded and walked away and into the village. She walked from her spot, too, slowly, yet still looked behind her shoulder now and then. Nothing. Maybe he wouldn't be there anytime, as she had thought. Maybe she was an idiot for going out there in such a rain. She entered the village feeling really stupid. And cold. But mostly stupid. She waved to the gates' keepers for them to see, through the thick rain, that she was back, and continued her way, even though she still walked really slowly.

"You know, you'll REALLY catch a cold from walking that way," she heard, as a cloak was put on her shoulders. Even though it was raining heavily on it, the inside remained dry, and also warm from its previous wearer.

"How did you get in the village?" she turned around, looking up at him. He seemed taller than ever before. She guessed he had just never been this close to her before.

"Let's say I'm good at sneaking," he pushed her to walk faster. Of course, his answer was vague, as always. 'Good sneaking' doesn't get you past two Konoha Jounins, just like that.

He seemed to know clearly where he was heading, when he suddenly stopped, "Oh, I don't know where you live." The way he said that sounded really strange, like he had just remembered he COULD NOT know where she lived, but she brushed that off.

"Right," she said. She had forgotten herself he could not know where she lived. Actually, they were pretty much on the good way. She leaded him on the remaining distance in silence, just looking back at him a couple of times. Doing so, she noticed wet black hair fallen on the top of his mask. Strangely, just now did she realize his hair was black.

She didn't want to go all the way up the stairs, so she just had him climbing to her balcony. Darn, he had let it open. It was surely freezing inside. Oh, yes it was. She didn't feel like letting that cloak off for now. And she needed a hot cup of tea so bad…

"Would you like to drink with me?" she asked him, looking for her favorite tea.

"I don't drink."

"It's just tea."

"No, I don't drink anything. I don't NEED to drink," he emphasized the key word, waiting for quite a consternated look, or at least something of shock and confusedness.

"That doesn't mean you CAN'T, right?" she said instead, taking that as a matter of fact, not much after just a little thoughtful look.

He couldn't deny that. Once, even though he wasn't thirsty - he never was -, he felt the need to drink some water. It was more like a feeling of longing. Water has no taste, so it couldn't be that kind of longing. He missed the feeling of cold, fresh water falling down a dry throat. So he drank some. Of course, it did not have the awaited result. It was not the same as actually needing it and feeling its refreshing, sometimes saving, effect. Otherwise, it was something totally normal. Well, he didn't crawl with pain and die from that, anyways.

"But I can't drink through this mask," he objected and she had nothing to comment this time, of course. He seated himself awkwardly at her kitchen table, waiting in silence for her to come with her tea, feeling too foreign in a place he had used to know quite well.

Her kitchen wasn't changed much. On the whole, it was the same cozy, welcoming place, all in warm colors, with scents of fresh flowers and cinnamon. She stood at the table and poured herself hot tea. Her hair was already starting to dry. The wet parts were dark and flattened, while the dry ones were fuzzy, glowing in the light of a lamp, hung just above the table. Suddenly, he realized he was just a stranger, come in her house at night.

"It's been a while since I had tea in someone's company," she said after drinking a bit, holding the cup tightly in her hands for its welcome warmth.

"What about your friends?" he asked, as detached as he could. It was the first time he was actually asking something about her current life. He was suddenly really curious. What was going on with sensei, with Kakashi, with all the other he hadn't seen in so long?

"Well, I guess I don't have many friends," she smiled strangely, drinking some more tea.

"And your teammate?" he asked, still trying to not make how much he actually cared heard. "I mean, I guess he's your teammate. I saw him with you in missions. And that day, on the battlefield."

She chose to ignore the fact that he had just confessed he actually had used to follow her in all of those missions and answered, "We're not really close, especially since…," she thrilled off. But he guessed he knew really well. She was talking about his death. He never had really wondered how the relationships in his team evolved since his 'death'. It seemed that the answer was 'not too well'. It boosted his ego a bit. He knew it wasn't the right way to think, but he was suddenly glad his death had left a mark - an unpleasant one, yet a significant one.

* * *

From then on, their meetings took place at her place, drinking hot tea. Anyways, it was autumn and it rained quite a lot, so it was for the best. Also, they were now both drinking tea. On their second meeting in her kitchen, she surprised him with a present. It was a mask much like his own, but with the bottom, from his chin to the top of his lips, missing.

"Now you can drink tea with me," she said with a wide smile. Seeing her smile, he simply couldn't say 'no'. So he accepted the deal.

She asked him what kind of tea he liked, so she could buy it. But he told her the one she drinks was just perfect, even though she might have not believed it. The truth was that was Obito's favorite tea, too. He was the one she had first drunk that tea with. She had loved it and replaced her old tea with this one. He wondered if she remembered that…

He was spending his evenings there, talking a little, but enjoying each moment. During the day, he was waiting in the place he had to meet Pain. He knew it would be some time before Pain would actually come to accept his offer. But he couldn't be sure anymore. Not after the changes he had made in time.

Just like that, another year passed.


	5. All in the game, my dear

"Alright, Naruto, now let's have some sleep already." But the boy wasn't going to actually make it according to the plan. Just a year old, Naruto was the most restless thing Rin had ever seen. Why did she ever agree to take care of him? Minato-sensei was away with some Hokage business and Kushina-sama… Well, the always full of energy Kushina-sama had been taken aback by what it really meant to take care of a baby, especially one like Naruto.

That first year of Naruto's life had been truly hectic for her. She decided to go back at work, to get away a little from just the usual house chores and Naruto. But she couldn't find a nanny yet, and that day, she had the meeting with her new Genin team. Kakashi had made the mistake of volunteering himself to take care of Naruto that day (or was chosen as volunteer by Kushina, at least). And Rin couldn't let Kakashi alone with a little child, that was a sure thing.

"What if we get him unconscious with that technique that…"

"Are you mad? He's just a kid!" A damn unpredictable kid, driving them crazy by suddenly disappearing from time to time. And the last time they had found him trying to mix descaler and chlorine and try it as a cocktail. Another time, he had been playing with his father's teleporting kunai. He had suddenly disappeared with a puff and they had found him just as he was about to fall off the roof.

Just after two more hours did Naruto fall asleep. He fell asleep in Rin's arms. That was bad luck for her. She couldn't risk waking up the boy by putting him in his bed. So she had to wait for Kushina, so, whether if he woke up or not, she wouldn't be in charge anymore.

Kakashi, on the other hand, left as soon as he could. Damn, he was the one left in charge with the kid, not her. Why did she have to be so kind?

"That was shameful from his part, I guess," he talked more in a whisper, probably to not wake up the kid. She raised her head, still surprised, after so much time. Still surprised of how he always found her and appeared out of nowhere like that. He climbed in through the window of the Namikazes' house, with a bit of hesitation of some sort; or so it looked like, to her.

It had been around a year since the day she had first talked to him. Yet, she still knew almost nothing about him. Where was this guy coming from? Where was he living? What was he doing? Which was his name? How was he looking? All she had ever seen were his chin, lips and hair. On the upper side of his chin's right side, she could see something like an old scar, and it seemed to continue to his cheek and maybe further. Sometimes, she wondered if scars were the reason he wore a mask all the time. And how disfigured could his face be for him to never give up on the orange mask. If she'd have been sure that was the reason for him to stay hidden, she could have made him get it off, maybe. Scars didn't scare her, neither disgusted her. She was well used to them as a medic nin. But she couldn't know. And she couldn't dare to open such a subject herself.

"It's early for tea," she told him with a smile.

"I finished my work early," he replied, with no other ads. She had not yet found out which was that work of his, that 'mission'. That was also part of the things she wouldn't dare to ask, even though she didn't know why. And it was surely better for her to not know that the reason he 'finished early' that day was because Pein has finally showed up, after all of that time Obito has waited for him daily, as he had promised.

"Is there any way I can help?" he asked, not really knowing a way he could actually help in such a situation.

"No, if you're thinking of some jutsu to make him pass out."

"Hm?"

"Nevermind. Kushina is going to be home soon, and then I'll be free to go. But I have to keep him asleep for now."

"Have you tried sleeping powder?" he asked, as he jumped back out. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. What was with guys and the incapability of understanding what taking care of a child really meant.

Rin was aware this wasn't right. She trusted a guy she knew nothing about. Sometimes she wondered if she should say something about it to anyone. But everyone she knew was shinobi. They'd get suspicious and warn her about it. And they had reasons to. Sure, she trusted him, but could she give anyone good enough reasons for which she did so? She couldn't even give them to herself.

Actually, he kind of reminded her of …Obito. Kind of. Obito had been cheerful. And loud. And hyper… and always late. This guy appeared every time at a certain hour, stood down quietly, spoke little and went out smoothly.

No, not really. He was nothing like Obito. The only fact alike was that she found spending time with him as easier as with Obito. She had always enjoyed listening to her teammate. Not necessarily for the things he had said, but he had always seemed to bring a wave of hope in that hollow shinobi world she had thrown herself in. And that's what she felt when she seated with the orange-masked one. Hope.

He spoke slowly, drawled, sometimes with some kind of irony in his voice. They mostly spoke about the world, about shinobi, about wars, and stones, and flowers. As random as it sounded, they did talk about flowers once. It happened one shiny day, when a scream from inside a market, opposite from Rin's house, had them looking out the window. Seconds after, a man with long, blonde hair, caught in a ponytail, ran out holding a pregnant woman, shouting behind his shoulder as he ran, "Take care of the shop, 'kaasan! My lovely Ino is coming to life today!"

"We're not calling the baby Ino!" the woman was shouting back as the man was carrying her in ninja speed towards the hospital, two streets from there.

"The flowers shop," he whispered. She turned to him, at first surprised he knew that was a flower shop. The balcony he always got in through was on the other side of the house. And it was the first time they had tea here, in the living room, and not in the kitchen. But, well, if you looked attentively enough, you could see the flowers inside from up there, so what else could have it been? A grocery store? Still, why 'THE flower shop' and not 'A flower shop'?

"I bought a bouquet from there once," he added thoughtfully, still looking out the window.

"So you know Konoha? You've spent time here? Did you live here?" question after curious question came into her mind and she spoke them all, aloud. But the next second, she didn't really want to know the answers to all those important questions. She wanted to know, "Who did you buy flowers for?" And there was something of bitterness, of suspicion, only a scent, but enough to be too far away from any usual Rin way. And all of a sudden, he laughed, a wholly amused, genuine laugh. She'd never heard him laugh before. His laugh was clear and harmonious, somehow charming, and way too joyful for the sober once she had known so far. Caught off guard by that, she didn't even realize where the joke was, in the first moments. Then, remembering her questions, from the oldest to the newest, she blushed heavily and, getting off her chair, she hid under the table, like a little kid, "Excuse me while I'll be living here for the rest of my life."

"Alright then," he replied. She heard the sound of pouring tea, up there, and crossed her arms, pouting. Would he just casually sit there, waiting for her to get up again? No way!

But the next moment, the tablecloth was lifted from his side of table, his head showing up, and he came under the table, too, with two full tea cups. He was much taller and had difficulty fitting in. He had to keep his head lower in order to not hit the upper side of the table. Looking serious again (he had his 'tea mask' on), he handed her one of the cups.

"So, you want to live 'the rest of your life' all by yourself in here?"

"Well, you seem to notice yourself there's no space for too many," she said. And, damnit, the space as truly damn little. Their arms were touching and his lips were dangerously close to her face. His skin looked all normal, pale, while she felt her own face getting warm again. Annoyed, she stretched her arm and grabbed something from the table. It was his real mask. She quietly put it in and crossed her arms. "Now that's better," she muttered.

"YOU can't drink your tea now, though," he commented, raising his eyebrows behind the mask.

"Of course I can," she protested. "Hey, look there," she said theatrically, pointing somewhere behind him. He responded as the game required, playing naïve and turning in that direction. In the meantime, she lifted the mask a bit and took a sip. Then, he turned back again, acting a fake surprise. "I can't believe… You totally tricked me," he said theatrically.

"Oh, yes," she played it proudly, "that's because I'm that smart!"

That was the first time he acted so openly and carefree around her, but it didn't mean it was always like that afterwards. Mostly, he came there thoughtful and blue, staying quiet, with his mind far away from where he was. And then he'd slowly get out of his shell, yet still keeping his guard up. He'd live pretty much content, and then come back gloomy once again, the next time.

She was very curious about what could have been it all about, of course, but she couldn't ask him. No matter how well you know someone, there are always things too personal that they won't tell you and that you won't dare to ask about.

* * *

After handing the baby to Kushina, she went home and soon he came, too. Though, that evening, the subject of talk went pretty far and things ended pretty unexpectedly for both.

**A/N:** Next chapter: _Cursed without mercy_

__By the way, guys, here's a random thought: Did you see that the Manga doesn't support the idea of afterlife? I just remembered how Zabuza (?) said, when he was brought to life, soemthing like "This is not afterlife. What the hell happened?" So their souls were nowhere in the meantime. They just stopped being when they died. They just stopped existing.

Do you think that, when hearing that, ninjas around, knowing they were at war were like "Oh, wow... So, if it ends today, it ends forever..."?

Just a thought...


	6. Cursed without mercy

Today's discussion has gotten too far, but there was no way back now. Never before had they gotten in an argument. And it was a harsh argument, hitting into their both minds.

"It is... stupid."

"Stupid?"

"I mean, we... WE are stupid. It's like... you know, we become just puppets in these people's hands. Like, it's just they're pride put at war!"

"Their?"

"You know, the leaders. These people have an argument in which their pride is involved and boom, there's suddenly a really good reason to start a war. Can we even be sure they tell us the truth? That we really fight for what they tell us we fight?" Her voice was increasing in intensity as she talked, sounding like she was arguing with a bigger power, that she was there the very defendant of the whole humanity. "Really, who do these people think they are, staying in a chair and deciding, 'I know what's better for these people. I am the right one. I'll decide these people's lives' "

That last part hit him directly. In this mad charade he was playing, he was going to be that man, deciding on his own what was better and easier for a whole humanity. "Someone has to do it!" he found himself arguing in a high voice, too. Her words were harsh, sarcastically, and, even though she couldn't know, they aimed him personally. "There has to be a leader. There has to be an idea. Someone has to move the humanity farther. Otherwise, we'd live in a chaos!"

"THAT is chaos!" she reached up her arm, towards the window, but they both knew she wasn't pointing something you could see out there. She was pointing in the distance, not geographically, but in time, to memories somewhere in the back of her mind. "There we were. And you saw it, too! Ninjas who really have nothing against each other, who don't even know each other, put face to face, with the aim to kill! What are we? Animals? 'Jump at that bad guy, dog'. But let's not insult dogs. My teammate has a few who are smarter than that," she leaned against the back of her chair, ready to say even more, crossing her arms.

"Rin...," a sound like pleading to not hear any more of that was all that escaped his lips.

Her arms released each other and she straightened her back again, her eyes showing utter shock and wonder. "I have never mentioned my name," she said slowly.

He couldn't believe the grave mistake he had done. Yet, the next moment he did another. Frightened of what he had just said, he widened his eye, letting her see a whole Sharingan behind that mask. Unfortunately, she caught that before he did. Face whitening with horror, she was sitting up, and she reached for his mask and pulled it before he could move a muscle. However, after that, he was truly paralyzed.

Unlike him, she was trembling violently, overwhelmed by the too many reactions of her body. Trembling as she was, she took a step back first, reaching her hand to her open mouth, then realized her hand was occupied with the mask. Her eyes got teary as she looked down at the mask. She looked as if she wondered how it had gotten there, for a moment, then suddenly threw it away, like there had been a dangerous, hairy spider. The sound of the mask hitting the nearest wall was the only sound in the room, before a single, choked sob to escape her throat. Then she raised her head again and looked at him. All he wanted was to avoid her eyes, yet he couldn't. Her gaze wandered on his face, sinking in each detail.

Feeling it was time he reacted anyhow, he automatically sat up. Unprepared, she flinched. He could only imagine what was in her head, maybe 'God, IT moves!'. It was time for him to take a step back. With a look all away from reality, he put on his hood, with same automatic movements, and took faster steps back, before finally breaking the eye contact, by turning his back to her, moving towards the balcony to get away from there.

"Don't you dare leave!" she suddenly shouted, stopping him in his way. She was still trembling, also crying now, but her voice was clear and secure. Once again, they gazed at each other, with the only difference that now he was only looking over his shoulder. There was a distance of around two meters between them.

"It is you, right?" she asked, though it sounded more as a sure statement, not a question.

"Who is 'YOU'?" His voice sounded husky - tired and old.

"You are Obito."

"I barely remember that boy."

"Stop messing with my mind!" she cried, another tear rolling down her face.

"I'm sorry if that's what it looks like."

They shared those words many times, yet they always had another meaning.

"Why did you leave?"

"I didn't leave. I DIED."

"Why didn't you come back?"

Dead people don't come back, Rin."

"You are NOT dead!"

"But Uchiha Obito is..."

"STOP messing with my mind!" she cried louder than the first time, this time all irritated, crying hysterically.

"I'm sorry if that's what it looks like," he said as calmly as the first time, but feeling all miserable. His eye was teary, his skin pale, his lips curved in a grimace.

"Where are you going?" she shouted.

"In the same place I've always been."

"Where the hell is that?"

"Despite my old beliefs, that I was a good boy, death threw me in Hell. And there I've lived this long..." He didn't add the 'same from now on', and just turned his head back ahead, but before he could make a step, he was caught into place, stunned. He hasn't even heard her move. He just felt her arms around him, as she caught him by his back, her head leaned against it, crying into his cloak. Her hands, on his chest, we're holding tight, her nails stuck deep in his cloak and shirt.

"Stop saying nonsense, talking in a code, hiding things. Why are you putting me through this?" she muttered through her clenched teeth, slowly forcing herself not to cry anymore.

"Because I have a mission. And because I was too weak to let you die..."

She suddenly let go, intrigued, "You would have let me die?" As she took her arms away, he turned to face her, catching her left hand, as it moved away from him, in his right one.

"Never. And that's where my curse lies."

"I am your curse?"

"And savior. And I don't know if it makes this better or worse." He raised the hand he was holding to his lips and kissed it gently. She just stood there, her eyes following his movements. As he kissed it, her hand landed on his cheek, crossing it gently, down to his chin, which her fingers caught softly.

This was Obito. Obito who had used to cheer her up. Obito who had died to rescue his team. Obito who had come back from the dead to save her once more. Obito who had kept an eye on her. Obito who had made this last year hopeful for her again.

Why would he not come back? But... he had come back. He had come back to her only. Why to her only? Why not Minato-sensei? Why not Kakashi? Why not his family? But the answer came from his lips in words she would have never expected, "Rin, I wanted to give you that bouquet. That one bouquet..." Despite the promise to herself to stop crying, another tear rolled down her face. "I have never had the chance to tell you... and I might not have another chance from now on...," he went on, but she covered his mouth instinctively, looking down, confused. The thoughts followed from where she'd left them. To 'he had come back to her only because...' . And the answer was so clear now. But she... Why has she accepted only him around her. When she has had not even the least of idea about who he could have been. When he has said her almost nothing... ever.

She tried to make an idea of what was she wanted now. She had no idea what she felt. The only thing she knew was that she didn't want him away. Ever again. Not as the masked guy and surely not as Obito. She just wanted that boy, whoever he was, to stay with her. She just wanted him to come back. Always.

She looked back up at him, but now he was the one looking down. He must have taken her gesture as an answer already. As a 'don't, I don't want to hear that'. But what could she tell him, really? How could she express herself? With the risk of being misunderstood again, she voiced the one big fear that wouldn't let her calm inside, "So you will run away from me now?"

He smiled bitterly, closing his eye for just one second. "I have run from you this far, Rin. And look where I'm standing..."

She realized she should have expected that answer. He was there for her. Only for her. She had understood that already. So why was she making a fool of herself? And why was she making him feel so miserable. She didn't mean that. It burned her inside to only think a word of hers could destroy him. She felt a drop of vanity from that, too, a kind of vanity she'd never felt before. Oh, she had felt that kind before, actually. It was a strange sense of property. Similar to when she had asked "Who did you buy the flowers for?"

"Rin..." It was strange. And it may have been her impression only. But there was something different from anything else in the way he said her name, in comparison to any other thing he spoke. Everything else he said was in the orange-masked guy's tone and voice. But the one who spoke her name was Obito. She could sense that clearly. She realized she must have known it was him from the very moment he had spoken her name. It was not the fact that he KNEW her name. It was like there was a whole other person at the surface. Obito was only deep inside and the one he responded to was she. Knowing that, she found it even harder to find anything to say or do.

And then he suddenly let go. He stepped back, putting on the mask she had no idea when he could have picked it up. It looked as if he had put on an armor, to keep whatever else away. They both looked at each other. She was wondering what was on his mind right then. He was probably doing the same. And none of them seemed to figure out a thing.

And a moment later he was gone. She didn't even realize how. When. Where… Where? Where had he gone?


	7. Condemned to live

"She knows, doesn't she?" Black Zetsu's voice echoed as soon as he walked in. This one's spying abilities were good at times, but times like this...

"She's gone to the other teammate, idiot. That big mouthed one. As soon as that one knows, how much do you guess will pass until everyone else knows?" At that, Obito had to stop from walking away, ignoring the voice. That vicious voice of Madara.

"She won't...," he shook his head, also shaking off that possibility of her betrayal.

"Really? Why would she care for you and not much more for the boy she loves?" the voice sneered. The Zetsu said no more than that. He saw it coming. That anger in the boy that had almost killed him last time. Boiling inside. He was ready to get away as fast as he could, save his head, but the boy left the other way. He could follow him, find out what's on his mind, but better not: what if the mad teenager changes his mind?

* * *

Rin was simply turned upside down. Her mind was tumultous. Her thoughts and beliefs were fighting one another. Any guard to keep her from damages was vanished, so she felt each single hit, causing a hurt worse than physical. That one she could cure.

Halfway, she realized sue was heading to Kakashi's house. Why? No idea. She felt she needed help this time. After today, she needed some kind of protection. She would not tell anyone about Obito. Not to Kakashi. Not to Minato. But there had been enough silence and avoiding the subject. Enough! That Obito was alive, that was another matter, but they acted as if he had never died, even though each of the three carried the gravity of knowing he wouldn't be back ever again, either. Kakashi thought it was his fault, Minato-sensei thought of it as his fault, while she felt as the guilty one herself, but they never laid the cards down.

She walked in Kakashi's house (he had given her a key) and was surprised to find a place that seemed not lived in, not at all. Kakashi was not in any mission, that she was sure of. So the boy must have been in his room. Maybe sleeping. It was a late evening, after all.

She walked in, hoping to find him still studying some scrolls or anything, but, instead, she found Kakashi doing nothing. Literally nothing. He was laid against his bed, looking nowhere precisely. He just stared. His eyes looked somehow concerned, but the lack of object of concern made them look like madness. He seemed to find no purpose and no will to move from there. He was not wounded or something, from what it looked like. But he seemed as if he were happy if a train would hit him and be done with it.

"Kakashi...," Rin aproached him, not sure of what to say. He looked at her for a moment, careless, then looked back into his nothingness. "Kakashi, what's wrong with you?" she asked, worried. Kakashi was the kind with 'quiet and careless' status, but not like that.

She knelt next to him, checking him out. Yes, there was no outer damage. Then... "Kakashi, tell me, what's going on?"

"Just go away, Rin," he said nastily. At least he did aknowledge her presence.

"And you just get up and look alive," she couldn't help but add.

"Why? I'm tired. I'm only fifteen, but I'm already tired of going out there, killing people, because I have to, or only due to my damn mistakes!" he barely whispered, but so strongly spoken, it seemed shouted. "I'm just a piece of trash, Obito was right!"

"Kakashi..."

"I killed him, Rin..."

"Kakashi..."

"I got to worship this guy... And then he died to save me. He was a hero. And do you know what I am?" he got from whispering to shouting. "People get hurt around me," he whispered to himself, then shouted agressively to Rin, "Go away, Rin! LEAVE!"

She walked away, in an act of self-defense. She was not afraid. She was not selfish. Kakashi needed aid. But to help anyone raise, she had to not fall herself, first. "I cannot let myself down to the level you colapsed," she said to herself as she departed.

* * *

Obito saw Rin leave, after watching the whole scene. All throughout those minutes, even though Rin had the chance, she said nothing about him. So he could as well leave. But he didn't. He was staring at his old male teammate. And he realized, in frustration, that he was feeling sorry fir the scum in front of him. He fucking cared... Why? Why would he care?

Last time, when Rin was dead, he had closed his heart and mind from anything and anyone he had once cared about. He had seen Minato-sensei die, feeling nothing at all. Just a shadow of the past. But now, there was an opening. Unlike the other time, he had allowed himself feel. He had let himself in the danger of caring for one person, then two... And now it made him weak. A weakness Madara would have never allowed. But, despite the pretending, he was not Uchiha Madara...

Obito could tell Kakashi's state was miserable just as he jumped in. Not only that he lied there, gazing absently at the ceiling, but he didn't react anyhow to an unknown masked man entering his house.

"There, just lay in your bed. I might be an assassin asigned to kill you, but you just lay there," Obito snapped sarcastically. The one in front of him was a disgrace, just a shadow of the real Kakashi. He felt deep distate for the weak thing in front of him.

"Fuck you and everyone else. I don't care. I might as well die," the silver-haired one replied tonelessly.

"Look at me, idiot! Look at me!" Obito caught him by his shirt violently, with his both hands, holding Kakashi in the air. Kakashi didn't stand to it in any way. He was just hanging there, like a worn out paper bag. "We are both trash," Obito went on, remembering well his talk with the older Kakashi, "Trash like us are condemned to live, do you understand? The ones like us are bound to live in the misery they're made of, collecting 's who we are!" he shouted, throwing him into the opposite wall. Again, Kakashi did not react anyhow. He just let himself hit the wall, then fell to the ground.

"Who the hell are you to tell me what I have to do?" he asked bitterly, in a husky, poisonous voice, not bothering to move from where he'd fallen.

Taking off his mask, discovering a face that looked nothing but mad, Obito whispered, just inches away from Kakashi's face, "I am your biggest regret," showing something between a bitter smile and a distorted grimace.

Kakashi's eyes widened in horror. Sustaining himself in both his hands, he crawled on four, backwards, until he reached the wall, on which his whole body pinned with agresivity, shaking his head madly, "No, no, no... I'm going mental... I am mental...," he murmured, looking straight at the ghost in front of him.

Obito laughed and it was no humor or anything human in that laugh. "Now that that's clear," he spoke afterwards, "who the hell are YOU, lifeless puppet?" Obito caught his shoulder so tight, a sound of pain escaped the other one's lips. "So you do feel what's going on with you, trash," Obito sneered, with the same madness in his eyes, pulling Kakashi from the wall and into a chair. With dexterity, he pulled another chair for him, turned it around and sat on it like that, his arms laid crossed on the chairs' back. "I know, I know...," Obito continued in the same talking manner, "Seeing dead people and all... You do might be mental, Kakashi. So let me play the therapist: when did you first realize you're a fucking coward, Mr Hatake?"

Kakashi still stared at him unbelievably, "You do are him, aren't you?"

"What gave me away?" came the sarcastical reply, as the speaker's Sharingan turned off. Just then did Kakashi notice he had been placed strategically. As he saw Obito's Sharingan going off, he also saw his own doing the same, in the reflection of the window in the black-haired one's back.

"Where have you been?" Kakashi asked in a tone that sounded like pleading, intrigued, and more other confusing feelings put together.

"It doesn't matter where I was, am, or where I'm going," Obito got up already, picking up his mask, which has been thrown around quite a lot that day, "Just pull yourself together. Keep your promise. Don't do what you did the last time. I am enough of trash for the both of us."

"What do you mean by 'last time'?"

"Just know that I was there. The day you decided to let Rin die." And with that, he put back his mask and was out as easily as he came in.

* * *

"Just when will you stop this? I can't understand how, despite the state I saw you in (and Kami knows how much you've been this way) you are still thinking I am the one who needs attention and help." Rin just couldn't understand why Kakashi was so stuborn. She'd talked to Minato into letting her do the upcoming mission alone. She didn't give much details, there was no time. She had only let him know Kakashi 'could not' attend, period. If the Hokage wouldn't speak to them openly, why would she?

But as soon as she left the village, the silver-haired boy was right behind her. Kakashi had always been the hard to read, but if there had been a moment she really wanted to know what was on his mind, this was it.

"I cannot leave you alone, just stay there, waiting to find out if you're okay. I promised you WILL always be okay," he said while chasing her.

Sighing, she stopped. He did, too. Somehow, something about him surprised her. The lost look in his eyes was no longer there. He looked totally focused and determined. But after all, that's the way he always was on missions, no matter for how long had that departure from reality lasted. Maybe this was just a mask he wore when walking out the house. Like Obito's...

She shook her head. It was not the time to think about it. Somehow, it was never the time to think about it. This was stupid. This was so stupid! Why did he have to reappear and then just go away.

He was staying away from her. No matter how much nights she got back to her and the masked guy's old meeting place, he never showed up. Maybe he was there each time. Maybe he was hiding. At least, she hoped that. She hoped he missed her just as much as she missed him. Because she missed him a lot. She missed both her cheerful Obito, now more than never, and the quiet masked guy. Losing her friend, years ago, made a hole in her heart. Losing him the second time and finding out the boy's feelings for her, that one smashed it completely.

She did not know what she felt. She just knew that she missed him. And that she was worried for him. Where was he? Hell, he had said. Could it be as bad as he had said? And what was it he was doing? Was it too much for her to want to know if he was alright? If he was in danger, maybe?

And now here was Kakashi, reminding her of the promise, which immediately directed her thoughts to the boy who was in love with her. Fed up, she looked Kakashi with a bitter smile, saying knowingly, "Keep calm, Kakashi. Obito won't be walking around to check your promise anytime soon." The statement had double meaning. And she was sure Kakashi wouldn't ever know the one she meant.

"But the orange-masked is," Kakashi replied with the same bitter smile and knowing tone.

What did he mean? Did he know? Of course he didn't. She was sure Obito got away from Kakashi just as easily as from the guards at the village's gates, Minato-sensei himself and any others.

Kakashi, too, remembered the masked one that saved them two years ago, though. So has he just observed Obito following them in the years that followed, maybe, and that was all?

She looked up at him, stunned. They shared a look, and if it hadn't been obvious from the look, the next thing he said would have been giveaway enough, "You do know, too, don't you?" She didn't have to answer a thing. She guessed her expression must have been just enough, because he just shot her a look and nodded.

"You're right," he said as he walked ahead. "We should have stopped avoiding the subject long ago."

* * *

An orange masked looked out for them from a distance. That far, Obito had thought he wouldn't care if Kakashi would fall cut in five to the ground. Not as long as Rin would still be safe. But realizing his hopes for his male teammate's health, too, lately, well... Things turned out pretty much... How would that Nara Shikaku, sensei of that friend of Rin, Kurenai, refer to it? ...oh, right: troublesome.


	8. Reflections

**A/N:** _I have this problem where I would much rather read the story I'm trying to write than actually write it._

* * *

It seemed like that date, 12th of December, was bound to remain, no matter the changed times, the changed events, an endless crossroad for the ones that had once formed _Team Minato_. 12th of December, the day that, years before, Rin had been supposed to die, forming an everlasting rupture of the team, now constructed an unbreakable bond, through finding out and carrying the secret of Obito's recovery.

The times that followed were ones of deep reflection and hard work for Obito. Also, they were times of further closeness between Rin and Kakashi, furthermore, closeness between the three.

That day, Rin and Kakashi did not talk any further about Obito. They did never find out how it came the other one knew the secret. That single look they shared said everything there was to be said, "I know something. Do you? You do? Well, there's no trouble if we both know, but no one else should, don't you agree? Good. What do we do now, though? There's nothing concrete to be done for now, is it? Okay. I guess we should just go on like this for now. Keeping the secret, keeping close, taking care of each other. And trying to take care of him somehow, too."

That was all they could do. And, as much as they had wanted to also get close to Minato, before, they both knew that one part was no longer possible now. Not when Minato was not their sensei, but Konohagakure's Hokage, and they were hiding the identity of a missing Nin, who Kami knew what was spending his time doing, out there, wherever he was.

And they were right to be worried about it. While the two were going further with their life, yet still looking out, still hoping to meet him, even though they knew the only way to meet him was if he decided to come to them, while they were, simply, just getting by, Obito was getting by in his own way.

That opening he had discovered that fateful day, the 12th of December, that wound he made sure to cover. Of course, covering from sight doesn't mean closing. But he had to just keep his mind busy, keep it away from him, in a shelter of his soul, where all good things he had once cared for laid now, like the old toys and that old little blanket a kid needs to leave away once he's grown up.

Already knowing what moves were to be taken, what people to look for and who to stay away from, the plans went perfectly fast and easily, but also too monotone to keep his mind busy all the time.

At night especially, when he did not need the whole sleep any other would need in order to recover energy, is thoughts wandered. They wandered back to the day he met Kakashi face to face again, to Rin, with the tea days, the many talks, replaying now in his mind, one by one, and, further, connecting all those to the times before waking up in a twelve years old body, once again. Of course, the most of the thoughts had to do with the unclosed wound's causes: Rin and Kakashi.

First, there was Kakashi. The twelve years old one he had left long ago, the first time, the one met and killed eighteen years later and then there came the one he met now.

The first Kakashi, the one he cursed daily, because he wanted to be seen as strong, as popular, but, mostly, to befriend him, be the one to know the silver-headed boy best. Because he knew better than anyone that there's more than surface, that people are other ones than alone, compared to whom they are in a group.

Same as Obito was snapping, shouting, looking silly, yet sure of himself and proud of his family, but, on the other hand, struggling with insecurity, thinking deeply about the world, about what was beneath, and not in ninja terms, judging and hurting from others' judgment, wanting the Sharingan so he could play the proud Uchiha, but feeling shame for the label to carry, for the fact that an Uchiha without Sharingan, even if a good ninja, was nothing. Same as that, he wondered what was actually on that proud, ninja teammate's mind.

At that time, he wanted them to be a team, a powerful one, because, as he wanted it, that was what the ninja world should have been, a powerful, united force, fighting for the better and for the harmony. No heroes and ones who are expected to stay in the background and clap, just heroes.

Those were his thoughts at the age of twelve.

Bu then there was his thirty years old self. And there was the second Kakashi. That second Kakashi was the one he did not only no longer admired or cared for - he hated that man. He hated him for just staying around, doing nothing. Obito could now see through that one easily, but he was aware this was not the one he had once wanted to read through. This one was just a total coward, afraid of any fact of the reality, but still prouder than the previous, so proud he'd never show how afraid he was, posing the unaffected, indifferent guy, who took any responsibility in his life with the thought, "Well, then, if it's really necessary to do this…"

He hated him for giving up too easily. All the time. First, he had given up too easily by killing Rin and probably being about to kill himself, too, that day, because he had been afraid, too afraid, too sure there was no way they could win. Then he hid away from reality as much as he could. He welcomed the death of his sensei with a raise of his shoulder, as in, "If it had to happen… Because it had to be so. Things just always go from worse to worse. There's nothing good to expect from life, just tragedy, and I or anyone else can do nothing about it". Then, there came his Genin team. He almost gave them no chance. He saw the potential in them, but only thought nothing like that mattered, because tragedy would always come in the face of ninja, no matter such details.

He always cared, but he always did almost nothing about it.

And there came the third Kakashi, the one there existed right now. This Kakashi was a perfect mix of the both previous Kakashi beings he had known so far. Actually, he was just at the borderline between the other too ones. He cared, wanted to do something about it, even though he mostly didn't know how. He had a time when he was about to fall in numbness, but it didn't get that far. He was still not an open book, still someone you could question, one to admire and rely on. As a result, this Kakashi was someone he hated deeply, but also cared for.

And then there was Rin, the one the most of his thoughts were about, still the one concerning who had the least of conclusions for, that far.

There was the Rin he knew once, the sweet, rather quiet girl... the one he was in love with. As much as a twelve years old can be in love.

There was no Rin for the thirty years old self of his to have an opinion about, just a bitter memory of a girl he loved, killed in the madness of people's lust for violence and blood. The suffering of seeing her being killed. Painful years of cursing a mad world which let innocent souls die for some high placed ones' profit.

As for the present Rin… He really had no idea. At the beginning, when he had saved her, it was about saving an old part of himself. Someone he had once lost and couldn't just let go now, when that long missed one was right in front of him. As for why he followed her after that…

He was, mentally, thirteen years old (and years were still passing). There was impossible for him to still look _that way_ at a little girl. So what was it that drawn him closer to her? Was it the memory? The regret of what could have been? Why did he try to tell her he had been in love with her? Why did he even mention the flower? Those damn flowers. Did that thirteen years old that had disappeared the day Rin died came back just as the young body did?

In the end, what was this second chance all about? Was it a chance for the plan to succeed? Was it a chance to get rid of the regrets concerning his team? Or was it just a damn curse for him to live all this madness once again?

* * *

June came soon enough, bringing warm air and more missions along with that. Same as a bright weather is wonderful to do good, it is also a good setting for criminals of all kinds to come out and play.

Rin was now a Jounin, too. As a war always leaves a village short on ninja, missions did not cease to come. She and Kakashi were always busy. Also, they were always together.

Unlike older time, the kind of relations they shared changed for the better. Not only that Kakashi seemed to feel better, but there was also a change in his attitude and beliefs.

He started being late for meeting and that was quite strange, because he was never late when meeting only with Rin, but only when he also met the Hokage, or any other comrades. Rin did not understand why he would do something so meaningless when it was just nothing like him, anyway, but, hearing people's reaction, she got to see what the strange boy was doing.

"You're late. Always late. That's something that Uchiha Obito used to do." Every time someone would say so, they'd also go on with, "Talking about Obito, remember when…?" Those times, Kakashi seemed glad about it. It seemed like he was simply not letting anyone forget about the existence of a certain Uchiha.

When people got used to him being late and saw it as a part of Kakashi only, the silver haired boy had another idea. He started training Obito's eye and lost no chance to talk about improvements and show people how amazing it was. Some may have rolled their eyes, thinking he was just trying to play the awesome one. But Rin saw the other side of it. Every time such discussion was opened, Kakashi, that quiet Kakashi everybody knew, was becoming really talkative and, somehow, the talk always got to the story about the day Obito 'died', emphasizing Obito's devotion for his comrades, will and courage, until the very end.

One day, when there were only the two of them, during a mission, Rin brought his way of acting lately into discussion, as a joke. Yet, Kakashi's answer was serious:

"Actually, it's just that… the last time I saw Obito, he said we were both trash. As for me, I may be. But people should be remembered that was never Obito's case." Kakashi had never talked before of how he re-met Obito and Rin could never find the way to open the subject herself. But this seemed a good occasion.

"When?" she asked the simplest fact.

"12th of December." That same day…? "Just after you left." He had followed her… "And you?"

"That same day, actually," was the answer. And it was the truth, even though it did not tell the whole story. Just that it wasn't an answer came from Rin. Looking up, both surprised, they noticed the mask first. Its wearer jumped easily from his tree, casually asking, "May I sit by your fire?"

None of them answered, just moved further from each other, making the necessary space for the newcomer. Obito sat down silently and that's how they all stood for a while, until Kakashi burst into a humorless laugh, asking, "What the hell are we doing?"

"We are sitting by a fire, obviously," Obito answered in the orange masked guy's style. Kakashi heard the answer, the smiled, somehow bitterly, somehow amused. Then, surprisingly, he took off his mask and, with the same smile, claimed, "Masks off." Obito did the same, showing a smile same as Kakashi's, bitter, but amused, "Well, there's no one else around anyways, I guess," he raised his shoulders, by that, wanting to make it understood that he wasn't making that at Kakashi's request. There were just such conditions which did not require him to bother with a mask. Rin was still silent, just watching silently the interaction of the two.

"Yeah, right? No one will find the bodies," Kakashi followed, in the bitter, yet amused tone. It was a contradictory situation. They were there both as strangers who had nothing to tell each other, and old comrades who understood each other too well.

"You've been following us for a while. Why showing up just now?" Kakashi inquired. None was looking at the other. They were all staring into the fire.

"I felt cold," the masked guy's kind of speech came out again. Or maybe that was just Obito, Rin got to think. The laughing and shouting from before his 'death' seemed now as far as possible from who he was today. Still, while being the orange-masked boy, there had still been moments in which he acted gleeful and careless, same as he had used to. He still had strong opinions. And surely he still had his high dreams. Maybe all of these were just different parts of him. Maybe there was needed a mask for him to tell the whole truth. As they say, _'__Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth'*_.

Both Rin and Kakashi smiled that bitterly amused smile this time and the silence continued. They both guessed that 'coldness' had nothing to do with his body's warmth. It was coldness inside. He was saying, in his own way, 'I missed you'.

After their last meeting, Rin was glad she was not alone with Obito… and still she would have wanted to be. She looked up at him, hoping he'd continue looking at the fire. Instead, just then, he raised his eyes to her, too. Kakashi may have not observed the change. Or maybe he just acted as if he did not. Rin felt as if there was something she had to say, even though she had no idea what. Kakashi's presence made it even harder. But, probably, Kakashi's absence would have made it even harder.

"I have tea," she broke the silence, pulling her backpack from behind. As unnatural as it may have seemed from afar, these three people were later drinking tea together, talking a little, smiling bitterly a lot.

*_Quote by Oscar Wilde_


	9. The lonely flowers

"Obito?"

"Hm?"

"I know that, for some reason, you won't come back. I don't understand, really, but that doesn't matter just… as long as we can see you… at least now and then. The thing is… could you just stop running from us? Why do you do it?"

"Because… you two are a link to a part of me that keeps me regretting. I told you, regrets are part of being trash. But I guess I'd rather have these regrets than the actual hurt."

"Regrets are not a downside unless you regret happiness and loyalty."

"Well, my kinds of regrets are that of a downside, I guess."

"Why?"

"Because I chose a path like this."

"Why?"

"You are too curious for such an unsafe world, Kakashi."

And, with that, he got up. "Here," he gave Rin back her cup, "Such a coincidence, that was my favourite," he pointed out.

"Yes, you showed it to me," she replied. So she did remember that. "Leaving already? You could stay the night with us. Is there any place you have to be soon at?" she tried keeping him into place.

"Don't worry. I'm never too far," was his only answer and it was clearly a 'no'.

"But you're not too close either," she muttered and was sure he heard it and smiled his usual bitter smile before fading away. "How does he do that?" she asked after, remembering Kakashi's presence.

"Seems to be very good teleportation." Kakashi sensed the change of subject, but went along with it. "Something like Minato-sensei's. Just that it looks better than what Sensei does," he mused.

"Better than Hiraishin?" Rin was genuinely surprised. At first, she asked only because she wanted to fill the silence. She was more interested in 'why he would leave' not 'how'. But what she heard was quite surprising. And if Kakashi said so, it was right. She knew well he only needed a onetime observation to figure something out.

"You see," he started explaining,"Sensei can project himself just a bit further. And so he does it repeatedly. That's why it looks as he's a moving lighting. This repeated teleportation, even though at a lower rate, also takes more chakra. In the meantime, it seems Obito teleports at a higher scale. But, well… I don't know how it functions yet. Maybe he could show us sometime," he stated, looking thoughtfully into the fire.

Rin found it strange how Kakashi said it. It was as if Obito was currently just a bit away to pick up wood for the fire, but he'd be right back and they would casually ask him to show them that new cool technique of his, now or maybe one of these days. Rin really wanted to see things that way, too. To think of this 'mission' of his as just 'left to pick up some wood for the fire' nd then just come back one day and everything be as it should. But she doubted things could be that easy. Yet, she did hope that was possible. Maybe one day…

Another year passed. Quite a strange year. Obito did visit from time to time. But he only came out of hiding when there were both Rin and Kakashi. If he did visit Kakashi only, Rin did not know. But he never visited her house again. That hurt for some reason.

And anytime he visited, none of them talked much. And the little talk they did always got to the reason for which he wouldn't come back. And, same as that first night, by the fire, he got up and left. And not come back for around a month. Sometimes, two. They never knew.

"Obito, I always wanted to ask you, how do you do the teleporting?"

"Huh?" He was surprised to hear such a question. The truth was that they usually spoke about the most random things when he was visiting. Since he could not continue visiting Rin after that last day, he started visiting Kakashi in order to keep himself sane. It could have sounded strange, but it became almost as easy-going, spending time with Kakashi, as it had been with Rin, juts that there wasn't that kind of pressure on his chest when it came to Kakashi. That mystery that had conveyed Kakashi was back again. Obito wanted to know what was actually on that guy's mind. This Kakashi was resembling the old one more and more, not the coward, but that guy he had wanted to be friends with. Just that he wasn't that stubborn and proud anymore. And he was slightly more open.

"It involves the Sharingan," Obito explained. "But don't get too excited. It won't work with a transplanted eye." They were lying on Kakashi's bedroom floor, leaning against the wall with the window, which was largely open. Cold air was invading the bedroom, which was truly welcome on a summer evening.

"Oh, I didn't even think of that. Copying jutsus is already exhausting enough. But, to tell you frankly, I've been trying to figure it for quite a while. Something that never happened to me before. You know how much it pisses me off you admit I don't know something," he smiled. Obito smiled, too.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"Can you ask me where I'm going when I leave from here and what I'm doing when I'm away?"

"Why?"

"Because it's getting late and leaving without that question would break tradition." Kakashi smirked and nonchalantly asked it. In response, Obito stood up, put his mask on and waved goodbye.

Watching him disappear, Kakashi admitted to himself that this was strange, maybe, but it did not matter. It was perfectly alright as it was.

Obito teleported himself just outside the Konoha gates. There was no use in consuming more chakra when he could have a healthy walk home. Home? Could he really call that place home? Surely not. He was rather at home here, in the woods he had known since he was a little boy, but no, not ever in Madara's cave.

"Hey."

He was truly surprised to hear her voice, all of a sudden, in that same place. Wasn't that tree towards which he was passing the same one he had been standing in, the night they first talked, when she had called him to come down?

"Strange. Usually, you were the one sneaking, eh?" she raised her arms, waving in the air, with a little smile as he turned and looked at her. "So you are really coming in Konoha without visiting me, too," stating as a matter of fact from the way she said it, but it showed on her face that it was clearly bigger than that.

"What are you doing here at night, Rin?"

"It's not night. It's just late evening," she said as if that was the best reasoning possible and there was no argument he could use now against her. As soon as she said it, with so much confidence, he burst into laughing. She felt like hiding somewhere. And right then, nostalgia hit both, recalling a time just like this, in her living room, with the story of a bouquet and drinking tea under the table. Had it been like… a year and a half ago, maybe? She missed hearing that laugh so badly! He had not laughed so sincerely since then… And that bouquet… That one bouquet. A bouquet that brought up another memory and the reason for which they no longer had that kind of meetings.

She walked to him, bound by an instinct. He did not step back. Just looked at her, approaching, thinking of how beautiful she looked right then. And every single day. Every time more beautiful than before. Her brown eyes were sparkling, lightening the dark night, and her smile looked just lovely. The damn pressure on his chest was back again.

"You rarely laugh these days, so it's kind of a miracle to hear it. So I'm glad there's an upside to making a fool of myself."

He took off his mask, showing his usual bitter smile, rather amused this one time, a silent agreement to what she had said.

"I do not hear the excuse for avoiding me, though," she added, still smiling, with her hand at her ear, like old persons do, trying to hear something better. She was saying it that way, smiling, with coquetry, a way of requesting that no man could decline, especially when coming from a beautiful, young lady – and it looked like she didn't even realize it. Nor the effect it could have and actually had. The pressure on his chest widened to his throat and stomach.

He ran his fingers through his hair nervously, feeling the awkward teenage-like way he'd never thought he'd ever feel again. Mentally, he should have been over thirty, but here he was, blank minded, a sixteen years old boy standing before a pretty girl his age, who didn't even had the least of idea of how charming she was.

"Rin, I am not avoiding you…" Yes, he was. They both knew that. But so seemed that pretty smile requiring for him to say. But that was just what he saw now. Rin acted just normal, just the way she did when they were twelve, actually. Smiling widely and talking nicely, sometimes playfully, not even thinking how stunningly, how charmingly ever single word escaped her lips.

And so it was. The girl saw him, in two, for the first time after finding out who he was. And there was nothing to shock or wonder about now. That was Obito and she couldn't act around him like anything else than she had ever done when there was only the two of them. Same, he couldn't not feel the same he had always felt every time she acted lovely like this.

"Sure, sure, I believe you," she waved a hand in the air which said 'yeah, right', but with no resentment and, after looking down for a moment, she looked back up at him, adding, in a more serious way, "Please stop avoiding me. Like, if you had given me that bouquet when we were young and… I did not know how to react at that moment, would you have run from me like this then, too?" She looked down as she asked that, playing with her foot. Well, someone had to bring that up of they wanted to move further. She knew he wouldn't, so it had to be her.

Hearing that, he swallowed hard, looking down at his feet, too. He did not know, really. He guessed that, when he had been a child, he had been naturally more hopeful. And when even that hope had faded, he had given up completely and thrown away the bouquet, so he'd never know such an answer. Now… what was he supposed to say? Fortunately, she did not wait for an answer for long, but continued speaking, "And… I guess you could say I had my time to think now…" His heart started racing. He lifted his head and looked down at her. She was still talking to the ground, playing with her foot in the dirt. "I... really don't know..." And she finally raised her head and looked up at him. His mind went dizzy.

And she suddenly had a thought. A moment. A feeling. "Would you let me try something that might ruin everything forever?" Taking his cheeks in her palms and elegantly sitting on her tips like a little ballerina, with eyes closed, she kissed him once, softly, on the lips. Then, opening her eyes, she looked him in the eye, waiting for his reaction, her cheeks reddened.

Catching her head gently, he kissed her, too. She deepened the kiss. Her hands ran up his face, her fingers caught in his hair. His slipped down her arms and around her waist. Ending the kiss, they stood like that for a while, looking at each other. What was going on, where this was going, it was not a matter of importance. Parting in the end, she took his hand and they wandered silently through the woods for a while, going nowhere. He was following her and she was following a feeling of restlessness. The night was getting cold, but when he broke that perfect silence, asking if she was cold, she swore she wasn't. Even though she did not fell the cold, her arms were frozen. He pointed that out, putting his arms around her to keep her warm.

"Surely that's the only reason," she replied to that, raising her eyebrows insinuatingly. He blushed to that, like any silly teenage boy putting his arms around the girl he liked for the first time, and he didn't even care about it. The surprised one was Rin, seeing him so carefree again, genuinely smiling, being truly happy, and his happiness made her happier.

Neither of them had the least of idea how they got there. It could have been just a moment. The next day, all could disappear like it had never been. Things could fall to pieces. But now there they were, in their moment. A moment to last, even it they wouldn't.


	10. What only babies know

After Obito had been gone, Kakashi turned to check the time. It was around eight in the evening. Closing the window carefully, he walked to a drawer at his desk, pulled out some scrolls and tried to study, but he could barely understand a thing. Convincing himself he was just too tired, he abandoned the scrolls and lied on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The truth was he wasn't tired at all, his thoughts just wandered elsewhere.

Even though he had been treating this entire situation as 'normal', just today he did start thinking of the actual abnormality in their lives. He just realized how, unconsciously, he and Rin slowly departed from their other comrades and older acquaintances. Their world revolved around work, training and team, as in Obito, Rin and Kakashi, no one else. When had they last gone out with the others? Sure, he had never been the especially talkative and friendly one, but not even the amiable Rin…? Did they even see their sensei for anything more than getting missions in the last… six months? How was little Naruto doing? Who was taking care of him now? And how was Kushina's Genin team going? Actually, were they still Genin? Who even were these children, actually?

The next day, when he met Rin, he was about to discuss with her about all these things, but his teammate seemed with her head in the clouds. She wasn't attentive. She made him repeat a lot of things, and then said she still didn't understand what he was trying to say. So, after that attempt of starting the conversation from further, he said simply, "I think we should visit Minato and Kushina. We haven't seen them or Naruto in a long while."

He'd talk about the 'comrades' part some other time. Something wasn't right about Rin today. But he didn't try to find out what was going on with her any further. Understanding girls was not his strongest point.

Rin agreed, but kept on looking around, like expecting for something or someone to pop up from a moment to another. Kakashi gave it a moment of thinking, before questioning, "Are you looking after Obito?"

She became steady and turned to him with a suspicious look, as if she expected him to know something rather important. However, Kakashi was not looking at her, but forth. If he had seen it in her, he may have guessed anything, but he didn't. He just added, thinking from his own point of view, "There's little chance he'd risk coming to the Hokage's house. But we can see him another time. Maybe later. He always knows when it is the proper moment to appear, somehow. I must say, his way of being since the 'death' is completely different, even though he's the same…," he was speaking up. Lately, Kakashi took up this habit of speaking his thoughts loud and truly around Rin and Obito, something rather intriguing when you compare it to the old Kakashi, who'd had never even shared with them at least the basic things, like 'I'm cold', 'I'm tired', 'I'm hurt'. But not even this was longer something of a wonder for Rin or Obito. They totally got used to it.

They got to the Hokage's house and knocked at the door, feeling awkward, appearing at their door after not being in contact for such a long while. As it was just a little past noon, surely the Hokage was not yet home, but Kushina might have been.

The door opened and Kushina appeared in front of them, looking like being all in a hurry. "Oh," she exclaimed, surely surprised by the view, "it's you, guys. How are you doing?" she invited them in, and then started picking things she needed from here and there. She seemed to be late for something.

"We're sorry for coming by in such a moment, Kushina. We only meant to see how you're doing, but it seems to me you probably have to be somewhere," Rin excused the two of them, realizing it was not the best of moments for them to be there.

"Oh, I'm sure I won't be able to go anywhere, dattebayo!" she said with distress. "You see, I was supposed to meet my team, but someone just came by to say the babysitter can't be here. So I'd have to take Naruto with me… But Naruto is so…," and then, as if following Kushina's idea, Naruto started to cry, mumbling something about wanting his 'unai.

"Is he asking for a kunai?" Kakashi asked, perplexed.

"You see, Minato made the mistake to present him the wonderful thing called 'kunai' a few days ago," Kushina explained, rolling her eyes, "And now he keeps asking for it." She sighed, leaving everything she was carrying down to go and pick up Naruto from his baby kitchen chair.

"Kushina," Rin felt pity for the woman, "we can stay with Naruto for a while if you want to," she said with a little smile. Kakashi turned with a worried look to her. He remembered well how bad the last time they took care of the little boy had been. As for him, he had run from there with the first occasion… But Kushina seemed to really need the help. And there had passed some time. Maybe now that he grew up some, it wouldn't be that bad, he tried to convince himself, seeing Rin glaring at him.

"Yes, Kushina, we can totally make this for you," Kakashi agreed in the end.

"Oh," Kushina smiled widely, "that would be so wonderful, guys. I'm so tired anyways of hearing Fugaku about how his son's sensei keeps being late," she finished with annoyance.

"Fugaku's son? Is that Itachi in your team?"

"I have three Uchihas, yes," Kushina laughed, bringing Naruto and letting him in Rin's arms. "Itachi, Shisui and Ayume."

"Strange for them to put only Uchihas in a team, huh?" Kakashi asked, curious.

"I know. I can only say things are getting strange lately," she raised her arms, picking her things back up and kissing Naruto goodbye. "I won't last long, I promise," and he was out the door.

The very next moment, just realizing what they got themselves into, Kakashi shot Rin a look.

"Well, weren't you saying that we haven't seen Naruto in a long while."

"Yeah, but… it would have better wiser to see him with Kushina and Minato both here!" Kakashi replied.

"Well, basically, he's both Kushina and Minato. We have all we need in here," Rin patted the little child gently on the back.

"Excuse me. I meant, Kushina and Minato both here, taking care of him for us!" he pointed at Naruto.

"Oh, come on, how bad can it be?" Rin said.

"In times of doubts, we can run through Minato sensei's seals for help. He must have something for holding down beasts. And I'm sure Rin has some sleeping powder in her supplies," a voice came from the kitchen.

Rin (holding Naruto) and Kakashi got there and found Obito sitting relaxed on a chair.

"When did you get here?" Rin asked him with a smile.

"Just now," he replied, taking off his mask, revealing a same genuine smile.

"Obito!" Kakashi exclaimed, "We're so happy to see you. Now, here, take care of this child!" he took Naruto from Rin's arms and handed him to Obito, who was too struck at first to act anyhow and just held the child, looking at him like at some curious creature he could not understand.

Naruto, too, looked with curiosity for some moments, before squealing, " 'ito!"

"Congratulations, here comes your official nickname, Ito," Kakashi laughed. Obito shout him a look and the baby boy, observing the second young man, squealed once more, "Kashi!"

"No, no, no," Obito protested, "It's Bakakashi. His name is Bakakashi!" The young child listened really carefully to Obito's correction, looking really sure that he was totally mistaken until then and that he was ready to learn the real name, so he actually tried repeating, "Aka…," but he couldn't really remember it. So Obito repeated one more time, "No, it goes like this: Baka…"

"Baka…," the child repeated.

"And Kashi."

But Naruto seemed to find there being too much of an effort to say the whole name. He guessed there couldn't be much of a difference whether he used the entire name or not.

"Baka," he said happily.

"What? No!" Kakashi protested. "No, no, no! It was Kashi. Kashi!"

But the boy stuck to the fact that the previous name must had been wrong, so he kept it his own, "Baka!" he shouted at Kakashi.

"No, it's…," and then he turned to Obito, "This is only your fault!"

"What? No. He could have chosen Kashi, but, no, it was the child's choice," he raised his arms in defense, laughing, taking them off of Naruto.

The boy, seeing that as the best opportunity, took the lovely colored mask on the table and ran away.

"Kami, he runs now," Kakashi said, too surprised, just like the others, to act in the very first place, as the young boy ran around the corner. "Does a kid run like that at two?"

"Run? I swear he _flew_ from here and to the door," Obito said in the same manner.

"Err," Rin was the first to get back to reality, "We're losing the Hokage's child!" and she ran after the boy, with the other two soon following her.

"He's gone," Rin was saying as soon as they reached her, looking around. "Where has he gone?"

"Well, we must split. Surely he didn't go out the house. Rin, take this floor. Obito, the attic. I'll take the second floor. We're all here in fifteen minutes, ok?" The other two nodded.

They parted, each searching in their area. Back, fifteen minutes later, they all had their hands empty.

"No trace of him?"

"No."

"But where could he be?"

Just then, the sound of the child travelled to them, "O'ange mak. O'ange mak. Na-u-to 'ikes o'ange!" They all turned their heads towards the source of the sound. It came through the window.

"Surely he didn't go out the house," Obito repeated Kakashi's words ironically.

"You mean you would have expected to find him up in a tree?" Kakashi shouted back at him, looking out the window.

"Wow, he knows the colors at such a young age!" Rin was genuinely impressed, walking the tree up to take the boy.

"Err, you need to sort out our priorities," Kakashi told her. Thankfully, the boy did not run anymore, but the three adolescents were already tired anyways.

* * *

"Baka!" Naruto squealed in Kakashi's direction, as he and Rin were preparing to leave.

"Naruto, that's not nice! Where did you even learn that word?" Kushina scolded him. Naruto looked around, not understanding what he'd done wrong.

"O'ange mak ees 'ito!" the little boy spoke then cheerfully, catching his little feet in his petite, fat hands. Rin whitened. Kakashi remained cool, but, for one second only, his eyes glimmered in shock.

"What did you say, Naruto-kun?" Kushina bowed down to her lovely boy, looking at him with expectancy.

_Orange mask is Obito! He said 'Orange mask is Obito'! _a voice was shouting with awareness inside Rin's head. _Kami, don't let Kushina realize what Naruto said. Please, please, please…_

"O'ange mak ees 'ito!" the little boy said with even more enthusiasm, waving his fatty fist in the air, giggling just adorably.

"Minato!" Kushina called out, completely forgetting about Rin and Kakashi's presence.

"Whah?" Minato asked, the sound coming out kind of muffled, as if his mouth was stuffed with something.

"Naruto is trying to say something! Come here!" Kushina demanded, not taking her eyes off of her dear boy.

At the sound of that, a flash passed towards Rin and Kakashi, and to the child and Kushina, revealing a half undressed Minato, with his toothbrush hanging at a corner of his mouth, white foam falling down his chin from both his mouth's sides. That, plus the look of childish-like amazement on his face, made the serious, respectable Hokage look as if he were rabid, or possessed – something around that. "What'cha tryin' 'o sa', Na-u-to?" he was asking, kneeling in front of his little boy.

" 'Tousan!" the boy shouted cheerfully at the sight of him. Well, at least someone recognized the Hokage...

"Let alone 'tousan, Naru-chan. Tell us what you said before," Kushina inquired, really enthusiastic and impatient.

"O'ange mak ees 'ito!" Naruto repeated. He seemed to become annoyed from having to repeat, already. The little kid looked like realizing his parents did not understand him, and started to get really frustrated.

"I don't understand," Kushina sighed, turning to Minato, "Do you understand?"

"Who cares what he says. Just look at how cute he is, trying so hard," Minato was saying in a high-pitched voice. Kushina palmed her forehead, while the other two were hardly keeping their seriousness in the back. They found it adequate to get out of that family scene, but there's never a truly polite way to step back out of something like this.

"Rin, Kakashi, do you have any idea what this blabbering could be connected to?" Kushina turned to the two of them, who were slowly trying to make their way out through the window.

"No," Rin replied with a cautious look.

"Not at all," Kakashi added, looking really preoccupied by the position of his kunai in his supplies.

"Alright," Kushina said, not too convinced. "Then we'll see you soon, I guess," she added, sensing their attempt to get away.

"Of course. Bye, Kushina," Rin waved her hand, as they jumped out the window.

"The door was…," Kushina was saying, but she waved her hand, leaving that as it was. Sometimes, she really couldn't understand Minato's students…

A/N: This was the idea of one of my readers, RumpelsliltskinTheBeast: "_lol... You need a cute chapter with baby Naruto lol Let Naruto stealing Obito's mask that would be funny"_

Indeed, I found it a funny idea myself, so here it is.


	11. Lost long before

In the months that followed, Obito totally avoided his grand plans, all of Madara's settlements. He didn't really care anymore. He was living on a cloud. Nothing of what happened in the world outside mattered anymore, not the wars, not the deaths, not the tragedies. There were no heart wounds to bother him. Nothing hurt. It seemed as if all the cuts and bleedings that had used to keep him awake at night were closed now, like they had never existed.

He was waking up knowing someone (besides Zetsu clones) was waiting for him and would have been worried if it had happened for him to miss for a long while. Having a best friend to bicker, having the lover he had dreamed of since he had been a child, things he would have thought to be impossible time ago, things he wouldn't have even thought of, actually, a while ago, they were now present in his life.

Also, as it turned out the lady who used to take care of Naruto was dead (dying just the day she had informed she had been feeling sick and could not had come and take care of Naruto), Kushina left Rin and/or Kakashi with the child really frequently, because she couldn't trust too much people with the safety of her precious son.

Even though worried t first, Rin and Kakashi got to consider 'can you take care of Naruto for a couple of hours tomorrow?' as 'here, have these free couple of hours for tomorrow'.

The little boy had not become less restless. He was more amiable to be with because he just liked the company better now, because, anytime Rin and/or Kakashi appeared, he knew that, once 'kaasan would be gone, the one with funny mask would come around, too. Just passed two years old, little Naruto found nothing strange in this arrangement. He simply loved playing with the black-haired guy. While the other two were scared to death of having to deal with the young one, Obito could surely not understand why. The child was a little, sweet, playful thing, beyond adorable.

In time, seeing Obito dealt just perfectly with Naruto and that they barely had anything to do (Rin was still the one who prepared the baby food, though, even though Obito was the only one who could feed him without turning the kitchen in a post-war terrain), they became much more relaxed towards these 'missions', too.

Obito couldn't now see, in that lovely child, the sixteen years old ninja he had seen dying and whose eyes had scared him so much back then, same as the little boy would never cross his mind and think Obito could had possibly become the man who, once upon a time he did not know about, and would never know, had killed his parents and made him go through all of that hardship. He was just Ito, the guy with orange mask who made him laugh and played with him. He even let him wear the mask the little boy liked so much, once, but, as his head was that little, Naruto could barely see through the little hole and he ran directly into the wall, winning a bump in the middle of his head, that took Kakashi and Rin a lot of time to explain in from of Kushina.

"Do you understand, Naruto? Will you run into a wall ever again?" Kushina was trying to make Naruto learn the lesson, later that day.

Naruto looked at his mother for a little while, trying to understand what 'kaasan asked. Finally getting the question, he replied happily and sincerely, throwing his little, fatty fists in the air, "Hai!" With a perplexed look, Kushina thought that maybe her son wouldn't turn to be especially bright…

* * *

Every day, in the evening, Obito was going to have tea at Rin's house, once again. But even these meetings were now changed radically. Before, they would have started in a cold, distant manner, followed by mostly silence, rarely a smile or a joke.

Now, as soon as he was walking in (still using the window), he found Rin already pouring the tea. She was smiling up at him as he was crossing the room and, taking off his mask, he was kissing her. They were talking and laughing about anything they could think of. Sometimes, their hands were intertwined on the table. Other times, she was staying in his arms, drawing circles in his palms.

They were never talking about the future. Mostly ninjas couldn't be sure they'd have a future, but their case was even worse. He was dead for everybody in the village. And she never asked him again on the matter: why wouldn't he come back?

_And, in the end, why wouldn't I come back?_ he was asking himself, sometimes. But was never finding the answer, not during that period. And, when the present was so sweet and happy, he did not even have the moments to think things seriously… until an unexpected event had him had him loathing in doubts and hate once again…

* * *

It was a usual day. Rin and Kakashi had a short mission. Said they'd be back by noon. Said they didn't need help and he'd only get bored by coming with them. There wasn't much to do, really. They had no idea why they'd have been assigned for such an easy task.

They say that, no matter how much you tried, you can lose everything in a moment of inattentively acting. This happens to anyone. It may just affect some a little, others, much more. You may not have much, so then you don't lose a lot, either. But, when you lose something you really treasured, you may find it more than tough, you may never get over it, or it may take just a lot time. A really lot of time… Some brave ones may even try and get back what they lost, but that's a whole other thing…

That day, Kakashi and Rin walked out the village in a perfect spiritual disposition. Kakashi was really talkative that day and so carefree others may have never recognized him.

The bonds between Obito and Kakashi were strengthening. The bonds between Rin and Obito were strengthening. The bonds between Rin and Kakashi were strengthening. In other words, the triangle bond was getting so close, the angles were closing in so perfectly, so that they could have become part of a same dot. But maybe it just seemed too good to be real.

They say, the happy people see the world as they want it to be, while depressed people see the world as it really is. And they also say that, once you were depressed once, once you wandered those roads in the depths of hell, for one time only, the next time you fall even harder. And, for Obito, the world showed once again as it actually is, and more powerful than before. The greed, the misery, the deaths, the tragedies, they all came creeping back out. The wounds reopened. Those cuts he had forgotten the existence of were back to the surface and inside his body, on heart, lungs and throat. And he was back in his numbness shell, planning that world that doesn't hurt, that doesn't cure either, but just doesn't know the hurt exists.

And how did it start, this time? It started with a carefree day, a short mission and being in the wrong place, in a wrong moment.

Waiting for Rin and Kakashi to come back, Obito became impatient. He started regretting he had not gone with them. He couldn't have gotten more bored than he was now, that's for sure. So, after a while, he decided to catch up with them, rather than waste time around, alone. He did not teleport, because he did not know exactly where they were, just the region. So he just ran, jumped from tree to tree, the normal way of travelling for a ninja. Once he got near them, he knew he'd get signs of where they actually were. And he did. Well, he did not expect it to be so obvious…

He stopped a bit to get a clue on what path should he follow then, and that's when he heard it – sharp scream he had never heard before and hoped to never hear again. All he knew, that was Rin. The direction to take was not needed to be questioned any longer. At his fastest, he got there.

1, 2, 3… 17, 18, 19 – the 20th was down. But still, things were tough… Two of them dived for him… and through him. Of course, they didn't get to know what actually happened before feeling the taste of their own blood invading their mouth – each stabbed twice in the back; each one's both lungs. Where was Rin? And Kakashi?

"Kakashi? Rin?" Two ninjas were thrown towards him, both struck in the chest, revealing just what he was looking for. And blood. A lot of blood. He did not see the other blood. He was never intrigued by the blood he caused. But that was _their_ blood. Both of them were still standing up, fighting, but that did not make him any more content. He felt that hot substance falling down his veins, making them pump close to the point of blowing themselves up. It was that destructive lust, that lust that brings up what's worst in a man, the lust for blood.

A flinch of his hands and they came back holding kunai, sending them away with dexterity, as other three of the ninjas run to them, but passed right through, as Obito headed forth, to where Rin and Kakashi were. One of Kakashi's arms hanged somehow loosely, while the other was holding his Chidori, stabbing back and forth. Blood ran down both the sides of Rin's mouth, but the real scary part was a red spot somewhere down her chest, that kept growing. The lust for kill grew inside him and three more ninjas fell on his way to them, one other getting stabbed just as he was launching himself towards Rin and Kakashi, by an Obito appearing through the ground.

"An ambush?" he asked, clenching his teeth, as the three stood now back to back.

"Yeah," Kakashi replied huskily, holding in a scream of pain, as one of those ones hit him in the wounded shoulder. "Peace my ass. These are ninjas from Iwagakure," he mumbled with distaste, as one by one, the Iwa ninjas were falling, leaving the three sweating and losing chakra, two of them also still losing blood. Most of them were falling at Obito's hand. The boy could no longer stop the madness boiling in him.

When the last ninja fell, corpses lying all around them, so did Rin and Kakashi. Kakashi fell to his knees, breathing hard and clenching his teeth with the increasing pain in his arm. But Rin, after falling to her knees, also passed out with a cough of blood. Obito, wearing no scratch but the ones appearing inside, at the sight before him, also falling to his knees, raised her head with carry, looking at her lying body without being able to believe it was happening.

"Take care… huff… teleport to the gates… huff… and let the ones in there… huff… notice her somehow… huff… my wound is not deadly, but hers…," but Kakashi did not speak longer. And Obito did not need to hear longer, either. None of them could think if that.

Obito did as asked, automatically. He teleported her to Konoha, made the ones supervising there notice her, without letting himself noticed, then disappeared, not waiting to see if she'd be alright, not going to check on Kakashi and make sure he'd also get home safe.

He just ran. And he did not even know where he was running. He just knew he was running from the thoughts invading his head, cursing at every step he took.

Why…? What did he imagine? How could he not see…? She did survive once, but she'd still die one day, somehow, same as every ninja out there, ninjas who fight believing things might just get better. But they don't. They never did. They never would. Filth and greed and agony and pain and egoism and vanity… That world and its ways… They would never change.

How could stay around, wait, dreaming like a teenager? What was he thinking? Young love and friendship and faith and kindness… They are all so little in comparison to the bad. And moments of joy do not compare a little, not in quantity, nor in quality with the agony and pain you and everyone else mostly get instead.

Nothing to do. There's nothing to do in a world like this. Nothing for those who see it in its true colors. Just agony. Agony. Oh, such agony…

* * *

What actually happened, Rin and Kakashi did not know. But they did not see him again. And for long. Yet, rumors started spreading around. And they tended from bad to worse and worst...

* * *

**A/N:** A while ago, a reader asked me if, with Chapter 9, the story was over. This was my detailed answer on the matter:

_Hahahahahhahahaha!  
Hahaha!  
HAaaaaaaaaaa!  
Hah...  
No, not at all. ;)_

As you may have seen, things were alright for a little while, but that doesn't mean everything is solved and everything in the past could be now left behind, forgotten, forgiven. The past is never truly left behind. There are things we cannot forget so easily. We can only forgive, change our point of view towards something… That takes some. Obito has to go some more now...


	12. Living like I never knew you

On a day of 12th of December, Rin woke up in a hospital room. For some minutes, she could not understand why she was there, how she had gotten there or why the nurse seemed so surprised to see her awaken. Why was she checking her vital signs such in a hurry, as if there was some reason for her state to go bad in any moment? Why the tubes, why the beeping? And why did she go dizzy and saw it all turn to black once again?

When her eyes opened once again, she saw someone she knew, even though she couldn't make up her mind on who that was, at first.

"Hey," a male voice said. The voice was stern, distant. Even though she recognized the face right then, any happiness vanished at the sight of his face's numbness and gloom.

"Hi," she replied with calmness. Her voice was husky. It must have been some since she had last talked. How much had it been? She was going to ask that, but he did not give her the time. With the same stern tone, he summaries what happened that day, around a week ago. His arm was bandaged and he mostly avoided looking her in the eyes and she started to understand something was wrong.

What was going on with Kakashi? Why was he looking so gloomy? Now and then, throughout his story, she looked out the window, expecting for something. He did notice that but ignored it for a long while, not daring to mention it.

But then silence fell once again. Her eyes became restless. And she seemed really confused. Something was not connecting in this story. What he did not mention was…

"He is… not coming," he said taraganand the words, looking absently out the window. What was he saying? What did he mean? Rin looked at him, confused, waiting for Kakashi to answer her look. But he didn't even look at her. He continued looking out the window. Maybe he was also expecting, even though his hopes weren't that up.

"He… does no longer…," he tried once again to explain, but he continued stopping, now and then, probably not daring to say those words yet, still hoping it was not true. "He won't come, Rin. He… does no longer come…," he continued emphasizing that same idea, but she still couldn't understand.

"What do you mean?" She could only think of _one_ reason why he would not come. And that did not make sense. "He was not even hurt. It's impossible for anything to be wrong with him. Like… he was in a perfect state, I know it." Her eyes got watery and she continued looking insistently at him, but he still avoided looking back.

"No, he's not hurt," Kakashi replied, clasping his hands together. And then he was silent again.

"Then?" she demanded with impatience. Her pulse started racing. "Why is he not coming, Kakashi?" Just then he did turn, heating the tears in her voice.

"I don't know," he said in a low tone, looking like a helpless child who does not understand what is going on. "I don't know," he repeated a little louder. With all his knowledge, cleverness and capacity of understanding facts that others' mind would miss, Kakashi could not figure this out. "He just left and did not come back. There was no sign of life… nothing. He disappeared… all of a sudden… just like that…" And he started crying. Tough, indifferent Kakashi started crying. He was rather crying out of frustration, but he was. No one had ever seen Kakashi crying. Kakashi did not cry. He himself could not remember crying. Not since his father's death. And that had been loads of years ago.

But Rin was not attentive at that. What was he saying? She couldn't understand it. How came Obito wouldn't come back, 'just like that'. How could he expect her to understand that? 'Just like that,' he had said. _Just like that._

"You can't tell me it is _just like that_!" she screamed, taking off all of those tubes holding her down, as she cried. "How can you say, _just like that_?" she was making efforts to sit up, swallowing hard with the pain invading her whole body, got out of surgery just days ago, as the effect of the painkillers the tubes had been filling her veins with started to fade. Kakashi stood up and pushed her back into the bed, as she sobbed, trying to oppose him, but it's not like she was in the state to oppose anything. Helpless, held by the shoulders in his iron grip, she started hitting him. He just stood there and took those hits, not even moving a muscle of his face the many times she hit into the already broken arm, until her hits got weaker and weaker and, exhausted, she just let her head fall in his unharmed shoulder, and cried silently.

Letting go of her shoulders, he put his arms around her back. That day, Kakashi got to learn the meaning of getting aid with the knowledge there's someone sharing a same wound and knows just as well how much it hurts. Normally, you don't accept people to comfort you, because you know they can't understand the graveness of your situation and feeling feelings, but when you do know the other person understands, you also know there's nothing and no one better for you right then.

* * *

Obito was no longer mentioned since then. Had he ever came back from the deaths, not even they would know. Because Obito had come and gone like a ghost. Maybe he had been a ghost. Maybe nothing of what had happened had ever been real.

Had Rin ever been saved by an orange-masked boy? Had some orange-masked boy ever followed her? Had she ever invited this stranger home? Oh, wait, but she hadn't… It had been all about that rain, and her waiting in the pour, interrupted by Kakashi… But, no, that couldn't had happened, because he had _never_ come back to life, had he?

Oh, yes, he had! He had been there. She knew it well. She had seen him. She had touched him. She had kissed him. She had…

Why would he disappear, _just like that_? Why? Leaving them behind… Leaving everything behind. Leaving _her _behind! That's all she wanted. An answer. Would anyone give Rin an answer? Please.

Because she was trying to find that answer and many others. When was the moment he had decided to leave? If she'd have that answer, maybe she would also understand the reason for which he had done it. Can you just have a thought popping into your head, like 'hey, isn't this the time to leave a life behind'? Had she done anything wrong? She couldn't remember doing anything wrong…

It had happened that day. There had been a misinterpreted mission and an ambush. Then? She and Kakashi had been hit; her wound was worse. And he had appeared and saved them. Again. Just like that day. Just like the day the orange-masked guy had fist appeared in their life. But what did that mean?

Thinking so, she recalled the battle. And she also recalled how slightly bad Obito had used to fight before the happening at the bridge, when he had first disappeared and 'died'. And, God, how strong he was now… How easily he had defeated more ninjas than both her and Kakashi put together. How fast… And that teleportation… Stronger than Minato-sensei's, Kakashi had said. There's no way Kakashi could be wrong. And Minato-sensei was Hokage, strongest in a village, and considered a prodigy.

Gaining strength, extraordinaire strength… How?… Not willing to come back… Why?

Rin wandered the woods, looking for him. _Silly girl_, she'd think later, _you cannot find him._ _You can expect and let him find you, but you cannot find him. Only he can show up, if he wants to, but the sad truth is he doesn't… He does not want friends or a village, and he does not want me. What is it he wants? What is it he's looking for? _

* * *

In less than a year, rumors started spreading. They talked about an organization called Akatsuki. No one knew who they were and which their purpose was, but people were afraid. Said they are all dangerous missing Nins.

The Yondaime started contacting Konoha's allies on the matter. It was a danger concerning everybody, not just their village.

Not saying things were alright inside the village either. A heavy atmosphere could be sensed each time the Hokage and the Uchiha clan's leader met. People outside the matter could not understand the reasons. But the Hokage did know something wrong was going on. Same as the council.

* * *

One day, walking through the Central Park, with now target destination, a habit she picked lately, just to meditate, she passed towards a memorial. This memorial had written on it the names of the heroes died in the last war, The Third Shinobi War.

She approached it, looking for _that_ name. _Uchiha Obito_ was calligraphically carved in the stone. _This hero is alive!_, she wanted to shout, but then she told herself, _No, no, he's not. Nothing was real, remember? _

She looked at the name for a while, then, dragging out a kunai, she carved in, _Why?_, at the right of the names, taking care to write just beautifully, as everything else in there was written, then she left.

The next day, she passed through the park once again and stopped by the memorial once again. She had no idea why she would do it, but she did. And she was about to look for that name again. But something else caught her eye. Under the letters she carved, there was something more written, now. With her heart racing, she looked closer and read, in writing a lot like hers, _Because we live in a cruel world._

What was that supposed to mean? What did he try to say? Because she knew it was him. It had to be him. Right then, right then, she finally got to understand: everything had been real. He was alive. He was somewhere out there. While she was smiling at the thought, she kept looking at the carved words, thinking how the question and the answer, put together, kind of fitted the meaning of the many names on the memorial, of heroes dead in wars: _Why? Because we live in a cruel world._


	13. We broke the rules

Things had been put in motion. There was no way back now. Just no way back… Obito thought now about work exclusively. He never crossed his mind, _not one single_ time did he wonder what happened with Rin and Kakashi, how they reacted to his absence. Okay, maybe _just _once. But _the matter_ had just been in his way, that's all. No, he had not thought about _it_ on purpose. It had just _happened_ for him, as going through the village, to see _her_. She had been at the memorial. He had seen her writing something in there. And, after she had left, he had wanted too badly to see what she had written. And when he had seen it, the simple question, he felt it had been directed to him, meant for him to find it there. And to answer it. And so he had written something in return. The simple truth. The simplest way in which he could explain it. And that was _all_. Nothing more. But he was relieved to know Rin was alive. For now…

"Agh!" Kakashi jumped at him, and through him. Obito had been expecting for a move from him. He had known the silver-haired prodigy had been trying to find him for a while now. And he _had, _for more than a couple of times. But Obito had disappeared just as soon as that had happened.

But he also eventually let himself caught, this time only. If he'd not give the guy the chance to talk, Kakashi would not leave him alone, he knew. But it was alright. Obito was already hid in his numbness shell. The fact that he cared could not touch him.

"You! You hid from… huff… us all of this time! Why?" Kakashi breathed hard, glaring at Obito, a hint of hopelessness visible in his eyes.

"Just go on," Obito talked sternly, "try and hit me. Relieve your anger," Obito looked down at him, from where the other young man did not even bother to get up. Obito was wearing his mask now, and had no intention of putting it down, like in the old good times.

"I don't want to hit you," Kakashi mumbled, looking up, trying to see anything in the barely visible eye, through the hole in the mask. But you cannot read emotions in a turned on Sharingan. You cannot even read life in such an eye.

"Don't be kind with the enemy, Kakashi. That's treason. It's against any rule." And he made a move with his hand as if wanting to help his friend up, but he retrieved it halfway, realizing what he had been about to do. But Kakashi had already noticed it.

"We hid the existence of a missing Nin for years. We broke the rules already, Obito. We can at least stand with it until the very end," Kakashi smirked, and he finally pulled himself up from the ground.

"How do you see this _very end_, Kakashi?" Obito asked, just as detached as in the beginning.

"Dark. Full of regrets. Full of sorrow. But the regrets of losing you are bitterer to swallow, I should say that," Kakashi talked in an equally detached tone now, his face unreadable.

"Now, I see you trying to be poetic," Obito replied with irony.

"Not at all. I just have this bad habit of saying things I think. You know, I just… open my mouth too easily." At first, Obito frowned, intrigued. The image of _the other_ Kakashi flashed before his eyes. _You open your mouth too easily, Kakashi. _Obito's exact words. Kakashi couldn't know about _that_, could he? No, of course he didn't… He sighed. This _back in the twelve years old body_ thing would drive him crazy. Well, he doubted he had been too far from it to begin with.

"Go home, Kakashi."

"Sure I will. And I knew from the very beginning that _you_ wouldn't. Remember that I told you that day? That I understand you won't come back to Konoha and that's alright, it's your choice. But I asked for us to see you from time to time. Remember? Why did you stop visiting us, too?" the always calm Kakashi started to lose his temper, his voice getting louder with every word, "You didn't say a thing before leaving. I have no idea what made you give up on us. _We_ have no idea. All I could tell to Rin, when she woke up, was that Obito left, _just like that_. That's all I could give her as reason: _just like that_! Do you have the slightest of idea of how she reacted like? Do you?" He was now shouting, but he did not care. Kakashi had no idea of the place he was in, or if there were people around there that could hear him and come to see what's going on. He hadn't been so incautious ever in his whole life.

"Rin...," Kakashi trailed off, looking down, and breathed in. He had not wanted to get the matter this far. "Do you think I'm an idiot, Obito?" he looked back up at a mask, hoping to see his friend somewhere in there. "Do you think I didn't get it that there was more than friendship between you two, lately?"

"Your smartness is something people can surely not doubt, indeed," Obito answered coldly.

Kakashi knew that was a topic he shouldn't had opened, but he had to say it. And so they are left staring at each other, with rage on one side, numbness on the other. As the temperature decreases in the tight atmosphere, they both knew, there's nothing left for the both or the three, just for Obito, Rin and Kakashi, three separated entities, who just had had the luck to collide at one time, then spread away.

Kakashi was the first to turn his back and step away. As he did so, Obito remained on his place, the last thoughts of regret dissipating in the air, as his thoughts already wandered elsewhere, to a world where things will be alright. Where no one else would suffer anymore. No one else would know what pain and despair even meant. Just him.

* * *

If _just like that_ is an explanation not good enough, but still, in the end, acceptable for an almost grown up person, for a little child, it is surely far from enough. If you are about to explain a child the reasons in a matter with _just like that_, then you better don't even try, to begin with. A little child, just getting to learn how world works, with little power of understanding for complex facts, needs more than that. So how would have Kakashi and Rin been able to tell them the little blond child something like this?

Kushina has found it necessary to go on a furlough, for an unlimited period of time. She couldn't understand what was wrong with her little child, why was he so easily irritable and refused to eat. It would have been so much better if he had been older, so she and Minato could understand what the boy was asking for... But, no... All they both could make out was 'orange', so they bought him all sorts of orange toys, blankets and even painted his room orange.

The child, at first, welcomed each of these things with some sort of enthusiasm, but checking them further, he seemed to realize it was not that what he was asking for, and then totally rejected the thing, turning back to his moody ways.

The parents had first seen it as some fad, a little child's caprice, but when the little one's health started to worsen everyday, they couldn't consider it as something less than totally serious. Their child was not alright, losing weight and dealing with fever almost every single night.

Kushina would start to cry, saying she was just a not good enough mother. Any mother should understand what's going on with their child, anytime, but she couldn't, and her baby's state was getting worse. She did not even listen to people saying it wasn't her, and that they (older or/and more experienced with children) could not understand what was going on either.

Eventually, Naruto's struggle ended, and it ended well. Surrounded by orange walls, furniture and toys, wearing orange clothes, he got to find that relief in staring intensively into the colour. Sometimes, that's all he was doing, scaring his parents to no end.

But that also passed. In a few months, he got used to that absence, even forgot about it. Just the feeling remained, although the little boy did not longer know what it was connected to. However, orange remained his favourite colour, even though he could not remember what he had found so special about the colour in the first place...

* * *

In the meantime, while dealing with a sickness of his child he and anyone else couldn't understand, the Hokage was also eaten inside by worries with the rumours coming outside the country. They said Jinchuurikis were going missing.

His wife was a Jinchuuriki...

* * *

**A/N:** Not a little of happiness lately, I know. I swear it will be compensated, but not for now.


	14. Some kind of alive

**A/N:** _I know I said I won't be posting before February, but I had some ideas for this and did not want to forget them._

* * *

He let his hair grow back in. Long ago, when he had first had that long mane, a lot like Madara's, it ahd made him feel least himself than ever. Probably that was the reason he decided to keep it so, now. He was not really his own self, but rather Madara. Or, at least, that's what he told people. They were people Uchiha Obito wouldn't have had to do with, normally. But Madara would have. And, for now, he'd be Madara. It made it easier. Being detached. Thinking coldly. Being so little of a human.

Recently, he had heard about Orochimaru leaving Konoha not long before. His spies had informed the man was already making plans to found Sound. As there was not yet a master-less Kabuto at hand, he needed Orochimaru in order to have things ended up as expected.

According to Obito's counting, Orochimaru would complete Edo Tensei in a couple of years or so. But he knew the snake had the shell plan by now. Also, he knew there was something the missing Sannin was yearning for and had done so for a long while. And Obito could grant him that. He may or may have not ended up giving him anything in return, in the end. After all, Orochimaru, just like anyone else, would have no wishes or will of his own, when it would all end. Of course, he'd be a harder one to fool, but he'd manage to gain that time somehow.

Finding the snake man had been easy, even though the foolish guy probably thought it was impossible for anyone to be able to take the trace of him.

"Madara?" the Sannin sneered. He laughed, too, finding the other man's words rather funny than worth losing his time.

"You do not show so little respect to an older man, Orochimaru,"Obito replied bitterly ironic in return, which brought an ironical look from the other, an insinuating one, pointing out how the voice, figure and everything about Obito was nothing of oldness.

And here Obito played one of his cards, shaking the snake's ego, "I see you are still very unknowing to immortality. Otherwise, you wouldn't require explanations regarding my apparent age," he talked the way an experienced one would talk to a clueless child. "Those bad people caught you being nasty and took you out of the village, my dear?"

Orochimaru grimaced, clenching his teeth, "I was not 'taken out'! I left at my own will!" He couldn't believe he was even giving explanations to this fool, calling himself Madara and addressing him as if he were nobody. But the obviously young man would better not bring his patience to its very extent.

"Because you had no other choice," Obito snapped back, without losing his temper a bit, the way Orochimaru had long since started to.

"But look who's talking here," Orochimaru suddenly smirked, "If you are really Madara, then aren't you also that one who was taken out the village by his own clan? And, when you wanted to return, the good, very respected Hokage threw you out completely, eh?"

But Obito laughed at the other one's attempt to win terrain, like a lovely innocent child had just told him the most foolish story, trying to impress his elder, making the snake man get back to grimacing, wondering what made the other act like he knew something Orochimaru had no idea about.

"Is it so?" Obito asked sweetly, "My boy, but _I_ did leave because I wanted to. And surely I did not return because I missed my home and fancied the idea of having my face carved in a mountain, as a real mountain of paperwork laid before me. Don't be so silly! They say you are rather brilliant, but your thinking abilities tend to disappoint me."

_What's enough is enough._ The last remark won a few attacks attempts from Orochimaru, but that's all they were, attempts, which did not inly annoy the man, but also confused him deeply.

"Now, let's not start an argument. I came here with friendly thoughts," Obito continued in the same old-man-to-child tone.

Orochimaru had been taken by surprise. Not only that feeling less powerful than others simply and seriously hurt his pride, but the way this man dared to talk to _him_... Who'd have dared to address him like that? Who'd have dared to use such a tone in his presence? For now, he preferred to do believe that one was the legendary Madara, at least in support of his vanity.

"Friendly thoughts, eh? Like what? Find out how life in the village is going lately? How's the shinobi life? The growth in price of the rice?" he talked sarcastically, eyeing _Madara_.

"Actually," Obito smirked under his mask - things were going in the right direction, "I do know everything there is to know. And I happened to hear of some experiments of yours - some that work, so that didn't. I'm here for a... pact. You have something I need, I have something you desire."

"I doubt anything you have to offer is worth my interest..."

"Really? Child, do you have any idea of what I fought Hashirama for?"

"Weight your chances in making any decent move as long as he was around?" Orochimaru splattered with bitterness.

"DNA," Obito corrected him, "Plenty of powerful, beasts controlling DNA. But it has so many more using possibilities..."

* * *

In a day of December, a seventeen years old Rin was hardly making her way home, through a thickening and deafening crowd. All these people had joined their friends and families to celebrate the great day. Rin felt it necessarily for a Konoha ninja to join, but not to celebrate, too.

What were these people celebrating? Well, that day, a delegation from Kumo had come to Konoha, finally signing that treaty. Officially, the war had ended a very long while ago. Unofficially, it was ending today, at the scribbling of two white hands on an official paper, preserving terms and conditions. This sheet of paper meant 'peace'. It meant 'alliance'. And Rin found everything truly stupid. A sheet of paper had been put on a table and, suddenly, you had to feel it perfectly normal to hug someone who had not long ago been jumping to kill you if you hadn't managed to kill him first, or the other way round.

_The one who defends himself does it to survive, probably, while the ones who attack... Kami know why they do it._ Rin had been herself the one to attack, many times. Because it had been 'her duty'? Only an idiot would have accepted that explanation and been done with it. So what had people really fought for in the first place, after all, when they could had hugged each other from the very beginning? And those words answered her over and over again, in his voice: _Why? Because we live in a cruel world._

* * *

That same day, the Hyuuga heiress was turning three, while another Hyuuga boy, of four years old, was receiving his 'bird in a cage' mark. The Hyuuga family was the only one who did not attend the ceremonies in the village. They had their our celebrations.

Rin did not know all these. She failed to notice the very important family's absence. And surely she wasn't to know how their little heiress just turned three. Nor did she even cross her mind and think about the Hyuuga's family traditions and laws.

She walked straight home (as fast as she could get through that crowd, even being a ninja), without even saying 'goodbye' to Kakashi (she'd lost him in the crowd too long before) or wait and say 'goodbye' to Minato-sensei (who Kami knew when he'd finally be free from all those officialisms...).

It was cold inside the house and even though she turned on the heating immediately, half an hour later she was still freezing. Together with her usual fresh tea, she took herself a warm blanket. Covering herself up to her chin, she propped herself on an armchair, sipping tea, feeling sleepy and lazy. She wished she had someone to talk to. And not anyone.

It's been long. It's been months. Yet, every time she drank that tea, she thought of him, wondering what he could be doing. When she drank tea, she could see him sitting across from her, with a cup in his hand, in the many ways she'd seen him: completely silent, wearing his full mask, the first time he'd been there, with the 'tea mask' from her, talking a little, and with no mask, smiling and joking and laughing a lot. And she sometimes believed he had been never there, other times, that he had never left.

But those were the only times she let the thoughts of him invade her mind. Otherwise, she trained and worked, talked reports and plans with her comrades, even chat and go out with old friends. A month before, she had been ranked Jounin. She had started to talk to Kurenai again. The first time, it had been strange. But now things started to get back to normal, somehow.

She and Kakashi never talked about _him_ again. The Copy Nin was no longer trying to remember people of Obito's existence, because he was the first who tried to ignore the 'Obito' subject. Rin would go out with their old classmates. And she'd take the loner Kakashi along, away from his books, books that were surely not school-type and she really did not want to know what they actually were instead. And they had fun...

Only in such moments, when she was drinking her tea, and when Kakashi was just casually lying on his bedroom's floor, doing nothing, they remembered him. But it was just a passing thought. No way to know where he was, what he was doing, or if he was still alive, at least...


	15. There he goes again

Going into the village had become something natural lately, bound by an older instinct. After all of that time, where he'd come for the usual visits, either at Rin or Kakashi's place, he found it strange when his daily routine did not include these trips any more. He'd told himself he wouldn't seek Rin or Kakashi ever again. And so he did. But he found it impossible to resist to walking those streets again. Just walking, that was all. He never even looked around, to recognize the old constructions and the people on the streets. But he had to walk there, just like that.

So, each day, very early in the morning, he'd wake up and walk into Konoha. Well, 'walk into Konoha' is a shorter way of saying 'walk towards near the gates, teleport inside and just walk around mindlessly for half an hour or so'. Then, he'd go to his usual businesses, not giving this habit at least a bit of importance. Anyone needs such a walk to meditate, whether in the morning or at night. The place never has any importance, just the walk.

The streets were mostly deserted when he went in there. And, anyway, with his head hid deeply in the black hood, a long cloak on his shoulders, there was no danger for him or his identity, even if he happened to run into Kakashi. Under the hood, a mask (a new one) covered his face, as a prevention, but not even that was visible due to the hood. However, in a village of ninjas, a well-covered, mysterious person was something too usual for the inhabitants, so his looks wouldn't catch anyone's attention. The civilians knew well that these people, wearing masks (the ones in ANBU) or hitai-ate-s (the usual ninjas) were there to protect them, and to protect the entire country. They mostly didn't mind these people, even ignored them. They knew that these masked people could walk around carelessly, carrying groceries, like any of them, the civilians, run with the speed of lightning (incredibly, not touching anyone, even on a crowded street) or walk around slowly, bleeding from wounds a civilian would faint just at the thought of knowing the existence of on their own fragile skin. And, in any of the situations listed, it was none of their business.

So, like in any of the other mornings, Obito followed his usual routine, walking down the street, not taking notice of the few people awake at that hour in the morning. This morning, though, he heard a voice he knew well, and couldn't get himself to ignore the sound. It was slightly changed, probably same was its owner, but it didn't pass unnoticed. He heard this one before, without doubt.

"And she said she would work a few hours more than usual, today. Silly niece of mine..."

For the first time during his walks, Obito raised his head from the ground and took a look. If sense would have played its role in time, he wouldn't have cared, but he had that look out of his usual shell for a second, and now it was too late to ignore the message.

The woman he was looking at had been really old when he left Konoha, but now she was older, her wrinkles digging deeper in her face and hands, carrying what seemed to be really heavy bags. Obito took a look around, searching for the person the woman could had been speaking to, but there was none. And when the woman continued to talk, about a matter completely different from the subject before, he had to understand there had been no talking companion to begin with. She was talking to herself. If he had ever crossed his mind (though he never minded to), he would have imagined this woman dead, but not losing her senses like this.

The reminiscence of an old habit pushed a thought into his mind. He looked back down, trying to ignore the senseless idea, but the voice of the old woman went on, so it proved to be just impossible. Obito cursed that remaining piece of consciousness that started it all inside of him, to begin with, and, rather obliged by that initial thought than on his own will, he walked towards the old woman.

"May I help you?" he heard himself asking, grimacing under the mask at the thought he was actually doing this.

The old lady seemed confused at first. Probably this real voice had given her a push inside and let her wonder what happened with that talking companion she had had that long, if that companion had existed. Then, smiling that kind smile only very old ones can smile, she agreed, "Very kind of you, yes," handing him the quite big bags.

Obito took the bags. As he had initially thought, they were very heavy. Not for him, really, but for those very fragile, fading hands, so pale and so wrinkled, looking like crumpled paper. Whether her sanity was that bad or, just like other civilians, she was perfectly used to people having Obito's appearance, the woman did not seem bothered by the man's many precautions of hiding his identity. She showed him the way, even though Obito knew it well, from those earlier years, talking to him, and also continuing getting that third person into the apparent conversation. By the answer she gave and the questions she put, Obito could actually guess what that third person _was saying_. The scene could have seemed amusing, but everything Obito felt was pity.

"Thank you, young man," she said, once they got to the destination. The voice must have been the one to give him away as 'young man', Obito guessed. "There are no longer gentlemen like you," the woman added, waving goodbye while walking into her house.

"There aren't, I guess," another familiar face commented, though he had hoped there wouldn't be any other familiar voice heard today.

Teleporting right away would have been too shameful and cowardly even for him. So he did turn around, actually scared to do it, like he'd never been in his entire life. And, just saying, he had faced truly scary things and people throughout his life, this and the other life of his.

"And we were worried about what you could be doing... It doesn't seem to me you're doing anything bad."

"Just an old habit," he said and he had no idea how was it possible for him to find the voice to speak. There he was. The one to had spoken was Kakashi. "What gave me away? _Trying_ to hide my identity from almost every single being in the village?"

"Many people walk around hiding their identities in a shinobi village. But not many stop to help the elderly... So it was true. You were really late because of this," Kakashi found it funny enough to worth a snort, even though nothing else was funny about this meeting.

"Mystery revealed, I guess," Obito replied sternly. It was strange how all of them could talk this casually, two of them avoiding the things they were actually wondering about, while the other was thinking hard and continuously, but found not a single honourable way to get out of there. Not that he found it emotionally easy, either.

"What brings you round here?" Kakashi asked, watching him closely. "You couldn't be here just to help old people, right?"

"It's not it, but it's nothing bigger than that, either."

"Pretty much unfortunate - I was just going to join Rin on the way to Minato's house. Just a different turn of fate and she would have been here, too."

"Her presence would have been unfortunate rather than her absence."

"You could talk to her, you know..." Kakashi felt uneasiness at opening that subject again, but he knew he had to try. Especially because chances like these wouldn't show, most probably, too soon from then.

"That's not going to happen." Kakashi was almost sure that, in the confidence in Obito's voice when saying that, he also heard some kind of horror concerning such a meeting.

And, right after, Obito did what he had believed would have been too cowardly, at the beginning - he teleported out of there.

"And there he goes again...," Kakashi raised his shoulders and continued walking.

Strange. Any time he's there, they think 'he's back and will never go again'. And then, any time they say 'that's it, he's gone', something like this happen.

* * *

"I don't need guards, Minato!" they heard Kushina shouting, when approaching the house.

"Kushina, this is serious! That was the fifth Jinchuuriki taken down! Can't you understand that...?" but he stopped, seeing his students walk past the front door. He walked towards them, saluting rather coldly. Minato hadn't been the same around them since the war, but the tension growing lately through the nation and the stress made him more and more distant. This Hokage was just a bit past thirty (though you would normally give him less), but, in moments like these, you'd think him well past forty.

It was just seven in the morning. Rin and Kakashi was there exactly with the role of playing Kushina's and Naruto's guards, at Mianto's order. Even though their relationship was now rather distant, Rin and Kakashi were still his most trusted shinobi.

"Hokage-sama, a message from Hiashi-sama! It's urgent!" another ninja slammed the door open. This was something usual since he had become Hokage, so Minato did no longer complain. By now, he knew that, whenever this happened, it was _truly_ urgent. He took the message, opened the seal and read it. His eyes widened. Normally, Minato would not have left such emotion show, so the situation must have been really bad.

"How comes I'm informed so late?" he asked sharply, as if the messenger was guilty for that.

"Er... I... I don't...," the messenger was mumbling, avoiding the Yondaime's glare.

"Minato, what's going on?" Kushina was the only one not bothered a bit by his attitude and approached him.

"Peace has just gone out the window," Mianto told her with a sigh, his voice losing the sharpness with which he had addressed the messenger just before, coming back when he turned once more to the young man, "Go tell Hiashi we'll talk in an hour."

"Yes, sir," and he was out.

"What do you mean, Minato?" Kushina asked, getting worried.

"They tried to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress. Hiashi killed the kidnapper."

Kushina showed a grimace of distaste. That 'heiress' was a pretty little girl, Naruto's age, just a child. "Hiashi did the right thing," she splattered.

"I agree," Minato replied, taking on his coat and giving her a soft kiss, "but Kumo won't," and he was out the door.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yeah, it just crossed my mind. If Kakashi and Rin got back in his life and turned it around, why not this, too? This had been, too, something important for him, once. Also, it's a way to let old Obito out for a bit, once again, after he'd closed himself in once again._


	16. Youth is wasted

"That was not fair…" She did not look at him as she spoke, but stared into the memorial they both knew well.

"I did not say it'd been fair," he answered, rather grateful for not having to look her in the eye and rather stare into the long distance that ended up departing Team Minato.

"But you did say 'It had to happen like this – there was no other way'," she replied, back still turned to him, eyes glued on the well memorized _Why? Because we live in a cruel world. _

Kakashi bit his lip under his mask, a gesture he found not usually adequate, but just came at hand in that very moment. He would rather speak himself out of a situation. We could say he had always been quite good at it, but no person could get that easily away with it when it came to Rin. She did not realize it, mostly, but she had her way of making people realize their mistakes and regret it deeply. Not that she meant to. But she simply did it.

"It was the Hyuuga family's decision," he said the only explanation he could think of, but it was really not one to help him. It was a rather useless thing to add, but remaining silent was not an option, either.

Rin may have had nothing to do with all this business directly, but she simply had this very sensitive nature. It was in her nature to smile from ear to ear when she saw happiness in people, but also to feel this kind of anxiety and helplessness when something that could be called 'unfair' happened to someone, anyone. Such strong power of wonder and understanding was, by all means, incredible and rare, but surely it was not healthy for a ninja.

"Their duty," she snorted, sharp irony filling the air between them.

Kakashi remained silence this time. What was really there to say?

A couple of minutes later, he left. It was the right thing to do when it came to such moments, he had learnt it. Sometimes, Rin needed to stay a while on her own, think things over, then she'd be as always: helpful with people, careful with her work and with her friends. But those thoughts she continuously gathered would remain somewhere in there. In the meantime, all he could do was hope they'd not blossom anyhow.

He did not hurry anywhere, passing through the village slowly, with hands in his pockets, and uncovered eye looking down. Now and then, he passed comrades of his generation. Their salutes had him looking up a bit to nod in response, and then he followed his way in the same manner.

All of these new events had him directionless. He felt vulnerable, discouraged, drained. All of the thoughts he held were sometimes consuming him. Sometimes, he wondered how others were affected by disturbances coming their way, how they dealt with them. But it seemed to be one of those things, too personal to ask a person, no matter how close you two are, how well you know each other...

Right in that moment, he stopped in his way. By being distracted, he ended up being careless. With all his careful intinct and dexterity, he almost walked into a bench. The real problem? The bench was occupied.

The person on the bench noticed Kakashi and looked up nastily at him. Kakashi was more regretful than he'd ever been, for being so careless. Because this meeting was more than awkward.

It was awkward because the person on the bench was one he knew. He didn't really knew her well. But they'd been in school together. They had met and fought during the Chuunin exam. And they had had missions together. But, like any other of his comrades, he had also heard of her predicament, her suffering, mental and physical, the pain echoing with every scream they'd heard, every time they'd approach, by mistake, the room in which she had been held, tied tightly to the bed.

Of course, that had happened time ago, after Orochiamru had left, and they'd found out what monster Orochimaru had let inside of this young woman. And of course that rumor last and a label which is put on, there it stays. So Mitarashi Anko was a rather a not very seeked company, these days. Not that she'd ever been. This girl had always been... strange.

Now, walking away like nothing ever happened would be shameful from his part. Yet, was staying there and acting as an old, good classmate, taking in account they barely knew each other, an option?

_I double dare you, to sit and not to sit next to me_, her look seemed to say.

"I'm sorry. I was just... lost in thoughts," he said, in the end. Social abilities werte not a forte of his, but neither was stepping back from what seemed like a challenge.

"Totally used to people not observing me... Kakashi," she replied in a tone as nasty as her look, not without lot of bitter irony on top. The way she added his name at the end was like saying, yes, she did remember him as damn-not-really a pair of friendly classmates, plus pointing out how unusual saying the name of a kind of a stranger seemed.

She was surely not the only one to think this whole situation was awkward, but getting out of it would surely prove to be even more awkward. What was he supposed to do now?

Sit next to her? Talk about something? Something like what? And, in the meantime, she kept looking strangely at him, as if asking what the hell was going on.

"Heard you were out the hospital just last week," he said. And totally regreted it. Sure, there was no other adequate thing to tell, but surely reminding her about her hospital day was more than inadequate.

"Yes, actually," she sounded perfectly disturbed by the subject. "I guess you found out from your girlfriend."

Of course. Rin was working at the hospital, so surely she... Wait... what?

"Rin is not my girlfriend," he contradicted her, surprised himself at how disturbed he sounded to hear something like that. But, really, did people assume that? Why would they?

She raised her shoulders neutrally, carelessly, "Well, you are going to be, then, most probably. It's rather obvious, how things work around here, really," she added boredly, then sat up. "May I?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, restless. It seemed that he was kind of blocking the way. So he did step aside at her remark, and she walked away. And he was thankful she was the one to get away. Randomly, he wondered why she hadn't just jumped over him instead. She was a ninja and didn't need him out of the way to leave. Maybe she just needed to be nasty until the end. Or maybe... she was so done with everything - he'd know the feeling.

Maybe she needed a push... though maybe not like the one he'd had from Obito. And surely not from him. He was some kind of a retard in these kind of situation. But he could talk to Rin about it. That would help his teammate, too. Nothing made Rin more content than feeling herself useful for others.

* * *

"Tobi...," the clone addressed the masked young man quite fearfully, calling him the name he had ordered to be called. Of course, in front of all the others, he was calling himself Madara. But lying to others felt not as bad as lying to yourself.

"What?" The ferocity with which the answer came made the fear pretty much understandable.

"The Uchiha boy is here," the clone half-whispered back, sitting as far as the talking he had to do allowed.

"Let him in," Obito allowed.

Itachi came in with his characteristic confidence, a figure quite impressing for a nearly twelve years old boy. Obito had been got used to seeing the adult Itachi and seeing such maturity and seriousity in an adult was something normal. But seeing its reflection in a child would somehow be having anyone taken aback.

Obito knew well that Itachi did not trust him, even though he was there to win Obito's trust instead. These weren't even matters of importance, though. He needed Itachi for now, to kill the Uchihas for him. And why would he get involved when others were so eager to do his job?

"I was expecting you," Obito told him in his Madara kind of self.

"I was not sure to come," the boy replied sternly, keeping a straight pose.

"But I was sure you would," Obito said. "Of course that a smart boy like you would guess who's actually behind the Akatsuki," he added confidently. The truth was, the other time, in that past life, when he had recieved Itachi's visit, he had been taken aback and it took him some to not show he was actually scared, scared of this younger boy, so smart and mature. An innocent young boy, carrying so much cold blood and intelligence... But things were different now. He knew everything there was to know about Itachi and what made him do what he'd do.

"My beloved clan is playing it dangerously, I hear. And such things come in the way of my plans, young Uchiha."

"Why are you telling me this?" Itachi asked, playing stupid. But it was just a formality. His face showed it ver clear: he knew what was going on and it was clear what he was there for.

"Just so you know." Obito joined in the game. "And why are you here, young Uchiha?" he went on with it.

"Because I realize my clan is inopportune. And I'd rather help you than them."

"How do you know I'm even up to something?"

"If you are the legendary Madara, then you are surely not just hanging around - not at all your style, any Uchiha would know," Itachi spoke the very exact words he had spoken back then.

"And how do you know that what I do is better than they do?"

"Anything would be better than what they do," the young boy answered, no sign of doubt or consciousness.

"I'll think about your proposal, young Uchiha," Obito added, after a few moments of silence. "I'll send someone after you when there will be a decision from my part," he dismissed him.

Itachi left, not without a concerned look at the man he had talked to.

Obito remained there thinking, planning, taking, from time to time, a picture he had went after while ago. Team Minato was smiling in it, all of them unknowing of how things would turn out.


	17. The shinobi path

"Itachi," the Hokage himself was sending him a nod as salute, standing at his bedroom's door.

Itachi was stunned for a moment. But his features gained their usual rigidity just as soon. The Hokage could as well believe the clear, passing look of insecurity on the boy's face had been just a trick of the light. But, luckily, the Yondaime could call himself a great observant. The boy was thinking he had come there especially for _that_ business. Somehow, that was true.

"I hope my presence is not inconvenient," the Hokage even added a little smile to the polite statement.

"Of course not, Hokage-sama," the boy saluted back respectfully.

Minato entered the room and, not waiting to be invited, seated himself at the young boy's desk. Itachi was working on something in there. Probably some reports. Even though always impressed, Minato was also always keeping on telling him that handing the reports earlier was not necessary. But he knew that, far from impressing anyone, Itachi was just continuously checking his limits – and usually surpassing them, again and again.

"You might be surprised that I came all the way here to talk," Minato talked once again.

"Why, I understand why this place is preferable," the boy answered knowingly. Minato had expected him to understand, so he was not surprised by the confident statement at all. "But I don't really understand why hide from _their_ ears, too… if questioning that is not disrespectful."

They both knew that the Uchiha District was the safest place to talk for the obvious reason that there were only Uchihas. And Uchihas trusted Itachi to tell them anything there was to know, so they wouldn't have risked to be caught eavesdropping - even though they were pretty much to good to be caught. As in 'why hide from _their_ ears, too', Itachi meant the Council, who were all aware of everything about the Uchiha clan's plans and Itachi's role in all this.

"Not at all, Itachi," Minato replied. "And that's exactly the reason I am here."

"Excuse me, I don't understand," Itachi did not even try to hide the following perplexed look - which seemed, really, quite unnatural for him to wear.

"Itachi, I came to know that certain members of the Council have given you hints on the fact that… you should just take all these into your hands."

This time, Itachi did hide his surprise, but, internally, he simply couldn't understand how it was possible for someone to spy on a person like Danzo and get away with it. He did not interrupt, though. He was rather resigned with the task he had been given. Well, they had not given it to him, more precisely. Just said how 'Itachi would rather do this himself and protect the innocent'. But now his hands were tied anyway.

The Hokage hadn't even been supposed to know about that for now. Still, Itachi felt relieved Mianto did know. For he considered their Hokage to be a highly wise man and was one of the few persons he truly respected. He would have really liked to keep staying in his service. But there were other things for him to do, now.

"Itachi, it seems that, generation after generation, we fail to give our future shinobi the right lessons. That has to be just because we, ourselves, still have to learn more than a couple of things. Maybe I know less than you. But I do still learn, little by little, day by day.

"The one lesson I want you to learn, though, is that, no matter how strong you are, you cannot do things on your own. You are strong, Itachi – much stronger than most of the people we know. And surely you are wiser and more mature than all of them. But that shouldn't make you dethatch from them and take it all on your shoulders. Before telling you to 'do what's right to save the innocents', some fail to remember that you're an innocent yourself."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm still a child and that's why it isn't my responsibility to do an adult's job?"

"Not at all. You can whenever do an adult's job – and even more. But you _shouldn't._ Not all the adults' in your clan job. And surely not all the adults' in this village job."

"So you absolutely deny me from following Danzo-sama's idea," Itachi concluded.

"I absolutely forbid you from doing so," Minato replied with a straight look.

"But Madara and Akatsuki are already moving," Itachi brought it up.

"Is he really Madara?" Minato frowned, knowing that the very awaited meeting had happened just that day, early in the morning.

"From what is known about Madara, it seems it's him," Itachi reported.

Minato nodded, taking a few moments to think about it. "Then we should be moving, too," he affirmed, settled.

"In what direction are we moving, then?" Itachi questioned the Hokage's view.

"The one which should finally have it decided: together or one against each other?" Mianto stood up, his face sraight.

"As for the Uchiha clan?"

"As for the whole world," Minato retorted sharply, though the sharpness was not directed to Itachi, but to that 'whole world' the Hokage was virtually addressing. "This is your problem only just as much as it is Konoha's problem only. From what we know, Madara wanted the whole world at Konoha's feet, furthermore, at _his_ feet. In order to obtain this, he shall defeat us all first."

* * *

"Minato-sensei is planning this meeting," Kakashi suddenly changed the casual subject, added to a sudden change of tone.

"I know," Rin answered simply, continuing the work on her report, as if there was nothing unusual in that and meetings like this took place every now and then.

"Rin...," Kakashi talked again in a low voice, looking straight at the young woman, who was still looking down, scribbling down carefully, in her little, organized writing. "Obito is part of this, too... I don't know what role he plays, but he does."

"I know that, too," Rin confirmed, and continued scrbbling down, now drawing a diagram at the bottom of the page.

"He might even be the head of all this...," Kakashi divulged his worst fear.

"I thought of that, too," Rin replied patiently, taking a new sheet of paper.

"And did you also think of what should we do if that's so?" Kakashi asked in a rather ironical manner, becoming irritable at the sight of his friend's detachment in the same matter that wouldn't let him sleep at night.

And he surely did not expect for her to actually answer, "I pretty much spent the whole time doing that," still in the same composed manner.

"Let me guess you don't really have an answer, though."

"Not really... All I know is... we cannot really go there and do something whenever we want to." Kakashi frowned, trying to guess what it was she meant. Rin finally looked up at him, yet not leaving her work aside. "What I say is, when the time comes, he'll be the one to look for us - we can't find him ourselves."

"Why would he look for _us_?" Kakashi asked, perplexed. Rin was acting as if she knew something he didn't. Actually, Rin acted as if she knew _everything_ there was to know - anything there was to happen. And all she had to do was wait. What he was sure of was that Rin had not seen Obito since _that_ day. So surely she had not found out anything that way. But, actually... during these two years, Rin had been thoughtful for very long periods, always looking like trying to figure out something. Something that Kakashi was not aware of. Something that no one was aware of.

And anytime someone showed up, she'd be the same Rin as always, someone not ecstatic, but slightly joyful and usually funny. Quiet, but always ready with the right advice or a considerable idea. Always helpful and supporting. Sensitive to others' needs and wishes, and thoughts. Loyal, courteous, hard-working, persistent, persevering, but with a slight lack of faith in herself. But, despite this side which Kakashi could easily read, there were thoughts of hers that he had no idea of and surely had no access to.

"Hey," a face showed through a crack of the door, after a little knock.

"Oh, Anko, come in already," she waved the girl inside with a smile. There goes the other Rin...

"Hello," Anko acknowledged Kakashi's presence coldly. Kakashi nodded absently in her direction as response. When he had told Rin, that time ago, about Anko, he had not expected for things to evolve like this.

"Just wait a moment. I'll bring the package with the information," Rin stood up, rushing towards another room. The three of them would have a mission together, the next day.

While Rin was away, Kakashi continued to seem as though he did not even observe Anko's presence. Anko, as always, was perfectly aware of that and proceeded to roll her eyes, exasperated, while sighing heavily. At that moment, Kakashi seemed to finally look up and actually give a damn about her existence in his immediate area.

"You know, I am absolutely tired of the ones like you, who, whenever I appear, just act as if I'm a piece of furniture or something else that doesn't deserve the littlest of their attention," she argued.

He listened to her interpretation with a puzzled look, following in the most innocent manner, "I don't mean to ignore you. I ignore people in general," he raised his shoulder as in 'nothing to do about it'.

It was her time to look confused. And people said she was a weird one. What kind of person just speaks what he had just told, just like that. "Except your girlfriend," she pointed out, just as a general remark.

"She's not... but, yes, I guess I don't avoid her presence as much as others'," he nodded in a matter-of-factly way, still looking somehow through her, not used to acting conventionally in a social situation, outside work and the restrictive team circle.

"Here," Rin placed the scrolls between them. "I should bring some tea. Anko, you prefer the black one, right?" she rushed to the kitchen, not even waiting for the other girl's answer. Kakashi guessed it was just a polite question, when Rin perfectly knew the answer. And there they were, alone once again.

Kakashi did not like that situation. Minato-sensei, Rin and Obito knew perfectly well that he was not a constant speaker, that he was mostly sullen and could remain thoughtful for hours for no reason. But having to get someone new to understand this was pretty much impossible and involved things like appropriateness, so better without. Why did he have to endure such a dreadful situation as communicating with a person beside his closest ones for no actual reason or necessity?

"Conventionality...," he sighed.

Anko looked at him, perplexed. Once again, the guy said and did something too out-of-place. Like, what was wrong with him?

"It's strange how one can feel insulted because one doesn't follow the social rules," he said more to himself. "I don't feel bad when others ignore. It actually feels alright, being alone with yourself," and then he narrowed his eyes with a thoughtful look, "Even though it does not happen much to me." And now he was kind of talking to himself... in someone else's presence. Or was he talking to her? It seemed strange to think someone would say something like that in a casual situation.

"I guess...," she uttered, opening one of the scrolls in order to get rid of some of the obvious awkwardness (at least for her). She guessed they were right, those saying there was a thin line between brilliance (as they said the guy was a genius) and madness - Orochimaru was another perfect example.

"Here," Rin finally showed up, bringing the tea. She poured it in cups and they finally started their work.

In regards to work, Kakashi had no troubles in talking normal - and smartly - and addressing them just normally._ That thin line..._, Anko thought.

* * *

**A/N:** _One should remember that Obito was not the only Uchiha whose life got trashed. When considering what I should do with the Uchiha clan, in the end, I also took in consideration who would get a better chance out of any possible twist and who deserved it. And I realized I have nothing against any of them – on the contrary. Even Fugaku has a bit of my sympathy. No massacre, people - the final decision was taken._

_And about the Kakashi part... Yeah, I really felt like giving him a longer look in matters of personality. He's a kind of interesting one - a very interesting introverted one._

_Eh, I am home this week, supposed to be studying for the regional Biology competition (this Saturday)... But I couldn't get myself to learn today. So I thought, "At least I could do something useful... somehow useful..." so I got myself to write some. _


	18. And that's what she meant

The attack was over in seconds. The three of them took off the ANBU masks and exchanged looks. Things couldn't have gone better. And that thanks to Kakashi's experimented planning skills, Anko had to admit. They had the scrolls. They had all witnesses taken down. The way out was clear. The brief looks was a general agreement – time to go out of the place.

Placing the masks back in their place, they were already rushing home. Sure, the whole trip couldn't be made at once – they were going to have a resting break on the way, but that only after they were out the enemy borders.

So long, Anko had believed that the Rin-Kakashi pair were privileged and given higher recommendations just for their links to the actual Hokage, but now she really had to admire their efficiency and professionalism. Also, she had to admire their remarkable team work and capacity of understanding each other's intentions.

So long, she had believed, same as other people, that they were a couple, because it had looked like something obvious to be, taking in account this bond which people could see between the two. They were known to always go out together, always pick up coffee and/or food for the other, too, seen together almost daily, seen picking up each other's laundry, at times, or using each other's house, though they couldn't be certain if the two were both at the same time there.

As for Anko, she could see right now it was clearly nothing about that, even though it still seemed so unnatural to see. Because that was not her team's case. And she hadn't even seen such in other teams either. Or at least not including the team's girl. It had occurred before for the two boys of a team to be relatively good fellows – even though they'd rather be rivals. And, really, maybe it was just her – because she had been, for a long while, too caught in her training with Orochimaru – but Anko could not remember when this change in their team had happened.

Kakashi had always been that élite prodigy of their generation. And there had also used to be the rather clumsy Uchiha boy, with which Kakashi had never been in good terms. And Rin had been, of course, caught in between, being nice to them both, but on none's side. A perfectly imperfect bunch. Just like most of the others' teams, really. Because there's always the same situation: there are two boys who cannot get along, because one of them is talented, while the other isn't, something that the ones who make up the teams say should be 'making balance in the team', but it only fucks everything up, Anko thought. And there was sure, a girl, who could sometimes fancy one of the boys (natural, as they're the ones you spend most of time with and connections are created), or one of the boys could have a crush on the girl (the worse is when both guys like the girl). However, the girl is caught in between, just because of that 'balance' that's supposed to equilibrate, and, even though in most of times the girl would be smarter, the boys would be (naturally, because of genetic reasons) stronger and act like leaders…. and mess up a lot. Always the same.

So what had made this team different? It had to be linked to the dead teammate. Had the death of the Uchiha destroyed the supposed 'balance', so that things become more restful? All that Anko could suppose was that, concerning the things she knew. Because Rin and Kakashi could tell her, there were a lot of things that everyone else missed, just because of a little change. One little change in a course of action and it all goes in different directions. Just a little detail did Rin and Kakashi hide from others. And quite a detail…

"Good," Kakashi said, taking his mask off once they reached the shelter, prepared beforehand. Wearing the ANBU mask, he had his usual, daily one left aside, of course, a detail which had seemed totally unnatural to Anko at first, but she eventually got used to it. "I think it's safe to make a fire. I came here once more before we had all find this cave and checked it. No light comes in. No light goes out. Quite a perfect location." He sat down, a detail the other two only observed after, using a fire-related jutsu, he lightened up an already prepared fire.

The other two sat down, too, looking at the fire in silence. They could hear it had started to rain outside. One more upside of finding a cave like that to camp, instead of having to camp outside. There was a single immense downside to it: with all the rain, it was still much colder inside there. Sure, the fire was yet a good thing and helped a lot, but it was still cold. They did not have things like extra blankets. The ANBU were not elite for nothing. They had to endure worse conditions than the ordinary shinobi. In their dangerous mission, it was impossible to be able to carry a lot of things – beside the necessary already heavy weapons – and too much food. Actually, they mostly carried some sort of drugs, perfusions in forms of pills, in order to get all the vitamins and proteins their energy depended on.

"They are meeting today," Rin said lowly.

"Yes, they are," Kakashi replied thoughtfully, games of the fire's light playing frantically on his pale face.

Anko guessed they were talking about the Kage meeting. There were rumors of war between shinobi, though it was not clear, really, who there was supposed to be war with. As closer to the Hokage, these two probably knew something about it. As the topic had been opened already, she may as well found something out.

"What are all these discussion about war?" she asked in a neutral tone, continuing to look at the fire.

Kakashi raised his eyes to her. She felt the gaze, but continued looking down as he spoke, "We don't know if _war_ is the right way of calling it. Just… problems that involves not only Konoha. _War_… who would Akatsuki use to fight a _war_ against five countries…?" The last question seemed rather an own reflection, that had nothing to do with answering her. That moment, she found it safe to look up. Indeed, he was looking down again, absently, lost in thoughts. Anko couldn't help but wonder how someone could get used to such a strange being. And now he wouldn't say anything more for quite a while…

Anko turned to Rin, hoping that the girl would have more to say… and that she'd be more explicit.

Rin was not staring at the fire anymore. And she was neither attentive any longer to what the other two were doing or saying. She was staring strangely somewhere in the darkness of the cave. For some reason, she suddenly shivered. There was something in the air… She felt like something was going to happen.

Anko turned to Kakashi to see whether he was feeling it, too. And she caught the sight of him widening his eyes and sitting up, before someone to knock her down.

* * *

"She's fine," Kakashi breathed out, relieved after checking on Anko. Whatever _he_ did to her, she had just fainted.

"Of course she's fine. But you thought I just kill people around now, I guess," the ironical voice he had used to know spoke back. It sounded a bit rough now, Kakashi thought. The way he looked up at Obito seemed to tell that yes, he did think so. The nonchalant look he received back said he was actually pretty much right about it.

"I knew you'd look for us," Rin was now looking into the fire again, still staying down on the ground, her legs crossed. Her words surprised Kakashi. Because she had told him Obito would be the one to look for them… and now this. How could she know? How much things could Rin understand?

Obito seemed just as surprised. Or maybe, in his case, it was not that. Maybe not what Rin said, not how Rin reacted, but the sight of Rin herself made him wear such a human expression as surprise. Or maybe it was something else than surprise…

"And why did you think I'd look for you two?" Obito asked, his expression changing back to normal, sitting by the fire and crossing his legs just casually.

Kakashi found it surprising until he also found himself bound to do the same, by a thought or maybe by an instinct. And there they were again, just like the other time. Three people standing around a fire, at night, three people on different road, changed so drastically in time…

"Just so," Rin replied. "We can't find you if we want to. But you find us wherever. Whenever." She was talking now perfectly calm, gently.

Without wanting, the image of her screaming and crying that day, at the hospital, came to Kakashi. He looked up at Obito as he thought of that and something like a lightning struck his thoughts and it felt like the images and sounds that created the memory were no longer his own only. He noticed the light that glowed and faded out in Obito's eyes just then – he had gained access to that memory. Kakashi couldn't help but feel pleased that such an incident happen. Maybe it was wrong to think so, but he wanted for Obito to always keep the sight of that desperation he had been bound to witness in someone who had not deserved such.

"And… I don't know," she went on, still not looking at him, "I don't really know why you're here. I wish I could. But you probably won't tell us much. You never do. Do you even know why you're here?" she finally looked up at him. Kakashi found it strange how she did not look sad, even though she did not look content either. She talked normally, as if they stood like that and talked so all the time.

By that time, Obito's face was completely metamorphosed. Looked so much like his old friend that, as much as he tried, he couldn't hold on to his restrains. "Just admit you couldn't prepare your own fire and came to our. It's not the first time, so spit it out," Kakashi spoke with a trace of nostalgic humor.

"Busted," Obito replied, with a shadow of a smile that was so weak and came and went so fast that you would have doubted its existence.

It's strange how there could have been found these kind of smooth part on a bounding that so many sharp weapons had scarred and thinned.

"It's you, isn't it?" Kakashi asked now completely serious. There was no needs to ask what Kakashi was talking about.

"Are you sure you want to know?" the stern reply came.

"That's also an answer," Rin also spoke.

And Obito gazed at her once more, with that expression Kakashi had thought to be surprise, and she gazed back. Kakashi looked down, feeling like his presence was really unnecessary and, at the same time, indisputably needed.

"I just need to know one thing," Rin spoke once again.

Obito nodded in her direction, encouraging her to go on.

"Is it so _because the world is a cruel place_?"

Kakashi frowned. He recognized the lines that had appeared a couple of years ago on the Memorial. Still...

He fixed Obito with his eyes, hoping to find the answer in him. But Obito seemed to try to find out himself what Rin meant, what the purpose of the question was. And seemed to guess nothing.

In the meantime, Obito was looking straight at Rin, who looked perfectly calm as she waited for his answer.

"Yes," he replied huskily in the end, hoping she did really understand what he actually meant, all those things he couldn't share with her. And he saw her simply nodding, as if that was all she had needed to solve a very complex puzzle.

He sensed slight movements from behind - that other girl was awakening. In a second, he was up, nodding them goodbye, and then teleported away.

"We'll see him again before things to... catch fire," Kakashi heard Rin say, while he was getting an explanation ready for Anko.


	19. Side effect of death

**A/N:** _Sorry, I know it took long. I've been really busy and, I must be honest, I've been writng for my other story when not busy with something else._

* * *

"I don't understand - we made sure they were not tracking us," Anko was saying, her mind still dizzy after being knocked down and all of the torment that followed.

As the only way out was saying they had been caught in an anbush and there were no bodies to claim that the supposed enemy had been defeated, Kakashi could only think of having all of them rushing out of that place, where the 'enemy' knew they were hiding and showing a constant awareness towards possible enemies that didn't actually exist.

Because of Obito's appearance and all the play the two had to act for cover, they ended up losing such a very fine place to rest in, to the rain outside. It was not the smartest move, indeed, but it had been the smartest Kakashi could think of so fast and in the given circumstances.

"That bastard...," he mumbled with resentments. There were not really resentments towards Obito, but for the situation he had put them into. And still...

Of course, there was nothing Obito had to worry about! He came by and left whenever he felt like it. Always leaving Kakashi and Rin to deal with the results that may come in between. He did not mean to complain. And still...

Only if they'd really get to know of him at times! Only if there weren't so many secrets and misunderstandings!

Maybe it was the cold and the constant pouring rain that had him so grumpy at the moment, but the grumpy thoughts wouldn't even let him think of a solution, which made him even madder about it all. Trying to clear his mind, ignoring a headache that he couldn't tell if it was caused by the cold or the anger and stress, he looked, in a lost gaze, into the tree's he climbed into bark, examining its shallows attentively, in an attempt of meditation. _Carvings in the wood..._, he observed, looking closer.

_3 left 50 degrees _

There was no doubt in the matter of who could had let the carvings. But what was he trying to...? Oh, well, but that would be pretty shameful, wouldn't it? For Obito to be able to leave a message that _he_ couldn't understand. But, now, whether capable or not, Obito wouldn't let him a message to have Kakashi freeze to death until being able to decipher it. Or so he hoped...

_3 left 50 degree_s? It seemed nothing more complicated than the simplest directions a passenger could give you. But _3_ what? The _left_ of what? There was not even worth in him thinking of the _50 degrees_ yet, before guessing the other simpler ones. Kakashi still had no idea, and so kept staring at the branch on which the carvings had been made. It seemed like a really thin and fragile one, the kind of branch a more violent rain like this one would easily get down - not the cleverest choice. He randomly imagined Obito saying to himself, 'Eh, he finds it, he doesn't - at least I had good intentions' and almost laughed at the thought of that, but then sobered at the realization that the joke was on him.

"Alright, then," he muttered to himself, getting back to trying to figure out the meaning of... _Ah_, he widened his eyes - it was_ that_ easy. He caught the branch firmly and turned it gently to the _left_ - _50 degrees_. The thin tree branch that was actually a very good, solid imitation, opposed no resistance. Seal marks started spreading down the tree and onto the ground, forming _three_ circles, their margins shining with energy.

"Jump in one circle each," he told the girls, hidden in other trees nearby.

As soon as all three circles were occupied, the sealing marks started the rotation, absorbing them in, as if dragging them inside the earth. During the several seconds that lasted, the girls eyed Kakashi for a clue concerning what was going on. His uncovered face said, 'trust me', while he hoped himself all this was trustworthy.

When the absorbtion stopped, having them disappeared completely from the ground, they were not given the time to wonder anything more, because, same as previously absorbed in, they were now gradually taken out, on dry ground, no rain in the sight, other types of trees surrounding them - the trees surrounding Konoha.

"If you had something like this under your sleeve, what have we been doing there, anymore?" Anko questioned at the sight of the familiar gates, fifty meters from where they stood.

"It's something that needs preparations," Kakashi lied and started walking ahead, towards the gates, to avoid any more questions. _Now, that was very smart, Obito._ _Very smart..._ And that thought passed his mind, not for the first time. What a team they could be if, one day, Obito would be back... Wishful thinking, considering their situation and the actions Obito had gotten himselg into lately. But one can't banish his brain from imagination.

* * *

Leaving the cave, he knew very well that he had lied: he knew why he had looked for them, this time. It was the result of shame he was not supposed to bear inside. The capacity of the human soul was to blame, for it is capable to hold onto all kinds of twisted feelings at the same time, without having any mercy on the mind and body that are possessing them... or rather, that are being possessed by them.

No matter how much he had been trying to detatch from himself, the transition simply did not feel right. And the moment he realized he was going to look for them, he knew exactly why he was doing it - the confirmation of the fact that, even when he lost himself, there were still people who still knew very well who he was and would always be able to remind him. And Obito could not really tell if he felt threatened by that or blessed.

The event that had him looking for the confirmation of his identity was the recent attending of the Five Nation's congress.

Because he know that, as soon as the Hokage would be back home, everyone - including Rin and Kakashi - would be let to know: the leader of Akatsuki had declared war to this world.

* * *

It took Kakashi a while to realize it. And it was shame on him, such a smart one. But it was that he had found it impossible to believe. And he still couldn't just admit the fact. It just didn't make sense for him. And something inside me was telling him that there was nothing for him to be mad about - it was all perfectly normal.

But he stood, there, at Minato's door - the Hokage office door. And knocked. Minato replied with a 'Come in' and he walked inside, his sensei's eyes set up on him, from the wooden desk, where the Hokage was seated.

"Kakashi?" His voice and face did not even try to hide the surprise towards such a visit.

"We are _not_ a team," Kakashi summed up his torment in a dry, bold sentence.

The Hokage frowned for some moments, trying to understand the younger man's preoccupation. Seconds later, his face straightened and his eyes closed once with something of exasperation. "Kakashi...," he sighed.

"No!" Later that day, Kakashi couldn't understand himself how he had got to the point of raising his voice in the face of his old sensei and, let's not forget such detail, Hokage of Konohagakure. But, right then, having to consent and get used to the current situation was far from an option. It was irrational. And for Kakashi to get caught in an irrational matter was new to both him and Minato. Maybe that was the reason Minato tried to take the boy easy on the matter.

"Kakashi, you and Rin work perfectly together, that's true. But that shouldn't make you two break from all the rest."

"We don't! We are still friends with the others - we go out often."

"Yes, friends. But they are also your comrades. You can't go on missions of two forever - Konoha's ninja are part of a_ whole_."

"What has that to do with _her_?" It had been a mission of three. And then two. And then others followed. So Kakashi felt too stupid when it finally dawned on him.

"The_ regular_ team has three members, Kakashi."

"She can't be that third member! That was Obito's place. He...," Kakashi trilled off, finally having revealed the real problem. He couldn't bear seeing that look of understanding in Minato's eyes, so he just looked away.

Kakashi had nothing against Anko. But they couldn't become Rin, Kakashi and Anko - they were Rin, Kakashi and Obito. That's how things were and he couldn't just start seeing them otherwise.

"Kakashi...," Minato stated calmly once more. "Obito is dead."

"What has this to do with anything?" Kakashi snapped back, even though he was smarter than to not understand himself perfectly how that had to do with everything.

"It's been years, Kakashi," Minato spoke again and the calmness and gentleness in his voice were starting to annoy Kakashi. "Obito's not coming to take back his old place - ever."

With that said, Kakashi saluted distantly and walked out, defeated. One thing Minato surely got right: Obito surely wouldn't be coming back to take his old place - ever.


	20. Anchored

**A/N:** _Officially, as stated on my profile (but I doubt anyone reads my profile, so...), I'm on hiatus - all stories are. But writing is still the one thing I can dive in when I'm down. And I'm down a lot, lately. So, instead of **trying** to do something useful, I prefer coming here, easing my nerves...  
_

Anko was fully aware that he was attentively watching her, but she remained undisturbed, like a stone, or maybe like a mountain - the one who can't be moved.

"Will you continue to ignore me?"

"Get out of my house," was her only reply - calm and coldly indifferent.

"I'm just at the window," he raised his shoulders, refusing to step back.

"Well, it's still _my_ window," she said, in the same tone.

"Team means sharing."

"So now it comes with clauses- well, that's still something," she added a bit of sarcasm to it.

Basically, someone who heard the discussion at the door of the Hokage's office told about it to a secretary, who told it to a friend, who was roommate with this Jounin, who was talking about it with another colleague, who Anko happened to hear in a park - they weren't even aware of her presence, on a bench nearby, really...

However it happened, people were aware that the very prestigious Hatake Kakashi had clearly argued that he didn't want _that girl_ in his team - he had totally refused to come to an agreement in this matter. No, he couldn't even conceive that. It was simply not _her_ place. The quiet ninja had been heard shouting at the Hokage himself, actually. And he had stormed out of that office, they said - that still, calculated ninja himself!

Now, of course that, spoken from mouth to mouth, heard from ear to ear, perspectives changed, misunderstandings happened, but the main idea was the same - the insult did not change.

And Kakashi got to hear from Rin, who heard from others, that Anko heard from some others, and Rin claimed that he went and apologized. In such circumstances, Rin's judgement was not even necessary, though, for Kakashi to realize he had messed things up.

"When you're about to leave to the war, don't have an argument with friends or family, don't insult anyone and don't forget to leave someone to water your plants. Because, if you do come back victorious, you might have still lost something, with the chance of not winning them back - plants withered, bonds broken, friends dead." So had Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, taught them once, before the Third Ninja War. The funny - humorlessly funny - thing was that Kakashi had not really priced the words back then. Back home, after the war, plants were withered, Obito was gone.

"I did not come to say I'm sorry," he spoke once more, from outside her window. Of all the things she could have expected to hear, this was none of them, so that she finally raised her head to look at him, angrily perplexed, wondering if the guy was _so much_ of a douchebag.

"The thing is," he went on, "it had nothing to do with you - for this I do apologize; it should have."

She went from being perplexed to being simply puzzled - he was talking strangely again.

"Look...," he made another try, to find away to properly explain it to her. "Err, do I really have to remain at the window?" ...he really couldn't get the awkward situation it put him into.

"Absolutely!"

"Alright, then...," he sighed. "As Minato-sensei actually pointed out, I'm just the kind of person who can't move on; cannot accept change from what's given... As much as it could have been about you, it's totally egocentric - it's all about _me_. It's not that_ you_ took that place. It's just that I couldn't understand how... I can't accept the fact that the place _can_ be taken. I was just getting to accept the fact that me and Obtio were really a team, that we had a bond... and then _everything_ changed.

"I know people regard me as smart. But even though upcoming change was something obvious to happen, I did not sense it, I did not see it coming..." All throughout the speech, he looked down, or anywhere else to avoid looking at her. He knew this was something he _had had to_ do, but it still put him in a situation which required revealing too much, staying too close, speaking too clear and from thoughts too deep, with someone who seemed too far.

For as long as he talked, she took the freedom of analyzing him - his nervousness, so obvious without actually being shown in the speech or uneasy movements, his fidgeting hands, as he mimicked his speech, his clear hardship in putting all of that together and letting it slip, and his shifting eyes, avoiding direct contact. The content of his speech was yet to be thought of, but the way in which it was expressed made it more appealing to decipher, brought humanity to the surface and broke that barrier between unreadable mercenaries, bound together only by the secrecy of missions and responsibility of their failure.

"I understand...," she muttered, after a while of lasting silence.

"You do?" his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah... I mean... I saw how well the two of you get along, you and Rin, during and out of your missions - and it's not what others thought it to be. I think... Obito being gone was what helped thins and it might be hard to imagine someone is 'stealing' such a valuable place, like... a balance that you three had." So she really did understand it.

She may had understood it earlier, actually, But she'd been stubborn enough to avoid the obvious answer. Because she had felt pity for herself - she had had no team like theirs; she was aware that she did not belong here, but she was also aware that she did not belong anywhere.

"Well, yes... That being said, you'll never have Obito's place...," he said just casually, simple like that - gave her no other exit. "You have your own place," he added, his eyes showing that he was genuinely smiling under that mask of his. Before being able to control it, she was smiling, too. "A team is allowed to be of up to _four_, after all," he concluded.

"Wow, all occupied - I should be thankful I got that last vacant place, I guess," Anko dallied. She rubbed her forehead, feeling tired.

"Well, we don't have official shirts or things like that, but you should consider yourself lucky for this - Maito Gai is trying to convince his whole team to wear green spandex, for example."

"He's the only one wearing spandex in Konoha."

"Yeah, he's not quite successful..."

And they both laughed. And that, above any official settlement, was what made them teammates.

* * *

Minato was tired. So tired it took more than twenty minutes for Naruto to catch his attention, talking about a new trick he learnt to do with his kunai weapons, "Seen that Uchiha boy do it! And told to him, 'Gimme some time and you see! You see me doing it, too!' And I showed him!" Naruto was saying proudly. "He said it was nothing impressive when I showed to him," Naruto muttered then, "But he was just saying it like that, dattebayo! When I said to him, 'Gimme some time and you see!', he was all like 'Nah, that's a hard one - took me months. You cannot do it'. And I said to him, 'Gimme one month!' And one month it took me."

Naruto was very enthusiast about anything that had to do with ninja. By four, he was continuously stealing weapons, wandering around and hiding, to _train_ with them. His parents were outraged and, at the same time, sickly worried. It was remarkable how such a little, silly child could get away from various, well-trained ninja his father had looking after him.

One time, he had stolen one of his father's special kunais for teleportation. _It looked 'cooler' than the other ones_, had been Naruto's excuse, when they had found him, in some forest in the far North...

At the age of five, among a lot of other presents, they gave him a set of six kunai. Never before had Minato and Kushina seen the boy looking so excited about something.

Now, at least, he had safe kunai (as safe as kunai can be) and they could give him a clear restriction for training time - never more than fours a day (yes, four hours was too little for the child's energy). Also, they could be sure to find him on Konoha's training grounds. They could have ninja guarding him, in case of anything.

The rest of the time, Naruto played a lot - he had a lot of friends. Something Minato got to notice (objectively), during a much peaceful day, when he could afford to go in the park with his child, was that Naruto was far from being the smartest, or most talented (in anything) compared to all of his playmates. But the others seemed to follow him, rather than any other.

At first, Minato had been worried that they were just hanging around him just because he was the Hokage's son. But it was not like. They'd frequently tease him about that, really, but not ill-intended.

He noticed, not without fatherly pride, that Naruto had his way of drawing people around him and, without them really realizing it, most of times, get them to do things his way. It was maybe his persistance in thoughts or his kind of a charm in his relations. naruto was a lot like Kushina, but not Kushina entirely. He stood and wondered, sometimes, about how these traits would develop in time.

"You listening, 'Tousan?"

"Hm?" Minato's eyes finally looked down, at his son. "Oh, hai, hai...," he mumbled. "The Uchiha boy, you said?" It might have been due to his thoughts in _that one matter_, but that's all he could remember of all the things Naruto had told so far.

"Hai!" Naruto squeaked with a grin, happy that his father had been really paying attention to him. "Uchiha Sasuke, 'Tousan - he's such a stuck up nose!" the child snorted. "But I like him! He's awesome to be spen' time with."

For some reason, that was which finally and totally caught Minato's attention. "Is it so?" he asked.

"Uh-hum," the child nodded, with a sudden bow of his head.

"Eh, Naruto, how about we both go visiting little Sasuke and his family?" Minato asked after a few moments of absent thinking.

"Hai!" Naruto jumped excitedly, already running to the door.

'Thinking things could be _this_ simple...,' Minato thought, getting up to follow his son.

**A/N:** _Uff, this chapter was more about little Naruto - people have been asking about him; and if I'm going to show the older, sixteen years old Naruto. I still don't know about that. Naruto is mostly the same - in the way I see him - just not lonely, and attention seeker, due to the lonliness.  
_


	21. As the fan turns

Uchiha Sasuke glanced out the window. Outside, the sun was burning brightly. As he tried to make out the two forms of different sizes coming that was, the sun in their back, the powerful light hit his retina, and he backed away, eyes shut. Pitiful.

Immediately, his head shook right and left, checking for anybody who may have seen the silly scene - none around. An Uchiha to have his eyes tricked so easily and unconsciously... if his father had been there to see such, Sasuke would have quietly gone and dug himself a hole in the backyard, to hide in.

"Sasuke, what made you flinch so?" Itachi.

Sasuke turned, his face getting warmer. Though, he had to be thankful for his complexion that rarely let blushing show.

Itachi was smiling as he came closer, but, throwing a glance out the window, too, his face sobered so badly and suddenly, it looked as though he frowned. Sasuke guessed his brother's eyes were not to be deceived that easily and that the two figures coming across their yard represented something bothering and troubling.

Itachi left the window without a word and, crossing the hall, he must have gotten outside, on the porch. Sasuke did not know whether it was alright to follow him or not, but he eventually did it - Itachi, unlike their father, never sent him away harshly.

"Hokage-sama, we're always glad to receive your visits," he heard Itachi say politely as his steps came closer to the door.

The Hogake? Maybe it was not good for him to go there. ...but maybe he could just peek and leave.

"Your son, Naruto, I guess," Itachi followed. Sasuke's face messed up in horror - not that one; he was so annoying! Why would the Hokage bring his son along? And a jealous side of him pointed it out how his father never took him anywhere...

As soon as he reached the porch, he saw the blonde boy smiling widely at the sight of him. "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke folded his arms, pouting - why did this guy have to exaggerate like that? However, he internally felt good about being regarded with so much happiness, so that he unconsciously ended up smiling.

Right then, the two older ones both burst out laughing at them and Sasuke's arms fell down with embarrassment, and he felt the threatening blood from earlier finally filling his cheeks deep red. In the meantime, Naruto stood there, oblivious - he couldn't get the joke.

"Why don't you go play, boys?" Minato told them and the two started walking away - Sasuke, awkwardly, Naruto looking like he was still trying to understand what happened earlier. "You, too," he added, and the boys turned to see the smiling Hokage placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in Hokage-sama actually sending someone like his brother 'to play'? Itachi looked confused as well.

"I'm here to talk to your father, so you may as well rest for now by looking after these two, Itachi. My son, at least, cannot be trusted."

" 'Tousan!" Naruto snapped, unaware of the changing glances between Minato and Itachi. Sasuke did see it, though - today, something was going on, something important.

"Hokage-sama," Fugaku appeared on the porch. A short bow of the head followed his words, but both actions had a kind of carelessness in them. He was dressed as for work, the Konoha vest on his back, the Uchiha symbol placed proudly on both shoulders. He had come recently, though it was not certain how much of recently and for how long he had been there - surely none of them sensed him, though. "I understand you were looking for me," he added, crossing his arms, his face as serious as usual.

"Indeed, Fugaku-san," Minato bowed back shortly. "Shall we go in?"

Fugaku was not happy to be invited inside his own house, but he nodded bluntly. He took a look back at Itachi before walking away with the Hokage. Itachi looked back at him and shook his head slightly - seems he had no idea of what was it all about either.

"Itachi-san, 'tousan always says you are truly great," Naruto started rambling as soon as the adults were in the house, instantly leaving the previous questions somewhere in the back of his head. "Can you teach us something? Please!" he burst with all his usual enthusiasm. And this enthusiasm of his bothered Sasuke more than ever, because of the request it was attached to. How could he just ask his brother for something like that? Also, Itachi barely had time to stay with him, though...

The older boy looked quite surprised for a moment at hearing the boy's direct request. He observed the younger child for some moments. Naruto looked all pleadingly and enthusiast. It seemed Naruto was that type of a child too nice and pushy that no one can refuse or ignore. Giving it a thought...

"Well, I was left to take care of you two, after all," he replied and even smiled a bit. Sasuke, even though somehow happy he's going to spend some time with his brother, was kind of startled to hear the reply. So many requests of this kind from him unsuccessful and now the Hokage's son had it granted so easily.

"Why looking so gloomy, Sasuke? Don't want my around you and your friend, too?" Itachi asked with a genuine smile.

"Not at all, niisan," Sasuke said promptly and loudly, all unlike him. That little protest inside him flew out just at the thought that his brother could think such. Immediately, he realized he showed too much of his inner thoughts once again and pouted at his own mistake.

"Come on," his brother pushed him gently ahead by the shoulder. "I could show you two something to work for both."

Still not over the fact that he had acted stupidly, Sasuke followed his brother. A warm feeling grew inside his chest - even though Naruto was going to be there, too, he was happy to have the chance of spending some time with his brother.

* * *

"What could be the problem?" Fugaku went straight to the point, as soon as they were in his office.

Minato smirked - he also thought the matter should be discussed simply and directly. "To tell it straight, Fugaku-san, we are both aware of the increasing tension within the village."

"Concerning the upcoming war?"

"No. I'm not talking about the war," Minato said lowly, but sharply.

They exchanged glances and, all of a sudden, Fukagu laughed.

"I saw this coming," he sobered all of a sudden. "I knew there was something strange going on with him." He was obviously talking about Itachi.

"Really?" Minato asked, smirking again. "Do you think Itachi is the one with something strange going on, in the current matter?"

Other moments of silence and glancing followed.

"And what are your intentions, coming here personally, discussing this directly?"

"Well," Minato began, "would you consider yourself as old, Fugaku-san?" he asked simply. Fugaku narrowed his eyes at the unexpected question. What was he implying?

"Would you consider me old?" Minato asked immediately. Minato asked immediately, not even giving him the chance to try figuring out where it was all leading.

"I do. I consider us both quite old by now," Minato answered himself the questions, crossing his fingers on the desk. Still not giving Fugaku the chance to add anything, he followed, "Should any of us still take such important decisions on our own?"

Fugaku snorted, "Then who should take important decisions? The children?"

"Precisely," Minato answered very seriously.

Fugaku watched him curiously, seeing the other man was not at all laughing at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"We didn't really get along, did we? And Sandaime never forgets to mention how Danzo and Uchiha Kagami did not quite get along. The First ended up killing Uchiha Madara. When people don't get along, when discussing a matter results in nothing, they can only find as solution to fight, measure the level of their righteousness by force, if anything else fails to work... But, when choosing this method, most of us forget that our decisions will affect others who had nothing to say in the matter and just throw themselves in the game." He paused a bit, sighed and added, "I'm talking about the children playing outside. And I'm including Itachi in this. Yes, he is talented, he is intelligent, he is mature - maybe a bit too mature just now - but..."

"What you imply is I'm dragging my children in something that will bring them only suffering? Am I not doing things for their future? Am I not thinking of them, in reality? Of the unjustness they are bound to live in? The young Uchiha do not realize how our clan is being played. When they will realize this, they will also feel betrayed that their parents accepted a situation of the kind for their own children. I'm thinking of only the children, thank you very much!" Fugaku said sharply.

"Hm..." Minato cleared his throat and, after waiting to see if Fugaku would say anything else, he talked again, "Do you hold a grudge against your parents for not acting themselves, Fugaku-san?"

"Hn. My parents were not so aware of our situation..."

"Neither are most of the children you're talking about. But those who are aware, already took their decision - why don't you trust them to make their own future? If they are wrong, the responsibility will be theirs."

"Shisui, too?" Fugaku snorted, "I had started to suspect it in Itachi a while ago... and, after all, they're best friends," he said more for himself.

"I know it's about political power in between," Minato commented. "So, if you don't want political power for yourself, just let them make out what _they_ need _themselves_. _We_ must back away sometimes. We are slowly fading in the past. _They_ are the future. Itachi especially...," Minato got up, "...he is already a Hokage - he's always been. And years from now..." He started walking towards the door as he spoke. "Also, Naruto and Sasuke are friends. And I don't think they should just be told that the Uchiha simply don't get along with the village, so they shouldn't either. If we cut off us adults from the scheme, the Uchiha clan gets along with the village, if you think about it. No better future could be made than the one whose bases are put early. Do you know what they say?" he stopped by the door, hand on its knob. "That Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara started out as childhood friends. The strongest village of this world is the result of two children's mind. The adulthood was that which came with the problems.

"A war begins. So I'll just ask you directly - with the village or against it? I'm taking no measures if the last is the case. You have your right to take the clan to the enemy and turned it against us. It's your decision."

A few moments of silence followed, Minato still at the door, his hand still on the knob, Fugaku still seated. They looked at each other sternly, one waiting, one thinking.

"I'll pay you a visit at the office later today," was Fugaku's only answer.

Minato nodded and walked out.

* * *

"This place is such a mess...," Anko muttered, walking inside the house of Hatake Kakashi's house. As Kakashi had been later than ever today, Rin and Anko decided to take initiative - Rin went to get their mission alone, while Anko had to go pick up the lazy guy.

Wasn't this man regarded as a very organized individual? Obsessed with order and regulations? So how was this possible?

"I am late, I know, I know - just give me a second," a hasty Kakashi walked out of the bedroom and entered another room, leaving the door open behind him. Anko could clearly see, even from a distance, that the bedroom was even worse looking. Were those old noodles under the bed? A glass was lying on the floor, its content still spreading all around. From what it seemed, it had just been spilled. Did he just accidentally hit the glass, when coming out the room? One of the most talented ninja of Konoha, clumsily stumbling over things - well, that was unexpected.

"Someone should consider the charitable act of cleaning this place for you," she commented as he walked out of that another room, leaving the door, once again, wide open - Anko was not extraordinary organized herself, but this carelessness of leaving doors hung open was annoying even for her. The open door revealed an equally messy bathroom.

"I had someone do the cleaning just a couple days ago," he replied, taking out his backpack from under a pile of clothes lying in the middle of the house.

_A couple of days..._, she gave that a thought, her eye twitching.

"What?" he asked, seeing Anko not looking well at all.

"Nothing," she sighed.

Apparently, even though Kakashi was most organized in missions and rarely failed in anything when it came to his job, he was simply a mess in real life, Anko would later find out from Rin. Sure, Anko had seen that he was pretty much incapable of carrying out a conversation and simply socially awkward, but then again, she didn't like talking and socializing a lot either, so she hadn't given it much of a thought in the past.

"Basically, Obito was the one who organized our things for missions." Rin laughed at Anko's expression. Even though she could not remember much about the Uchiha boy in their team, she did recall he was clumsy, hasty, never attentive... well, to put it simple, she couldn't imagine him staying put, calmly folding clothes and packing sandwiches.

"Seriously. Kakashi usually kept forgetting his things, burning the food... he was a total mess. And, as you saw, he still is. Never careful with palpable things... I guess it's all about balance."

* * *

**A/N:** Concerning the title of this chapter, Uchiha=fan, the fan turns, the Uchiha turns, eh, got it? I'm not good at this title giving job, am I?

Oh, well, it's been a veeeery long while since the last updates in... like, any of my stories. So I thought it was time I seated myself here and did what I have to do, dattebayo! I don't know how good the updates might be, but, hey, I tried!


	22. Alliance of Enemies

**A/N:** _You know what annoys me about Guest reviews? That some of them are the best and most thought-provoking reviews I have ever received, but I cannot talk about them with the reviewers. Because the reviewers do not have an account. Because the reviews are anonymous. Do you know how mad this makes me?_

_So I feel like answering them in here. Other readers may skip this if they wish to, of course._

**Today's Guest review:** With this chapter, I feel this has evoled from being a ObiRin fic to grow into a alternative universe which involes a lot of characters. I wonder what Hiruzen and his wife is doing in this fic... I hope that Rin will become poweful, since the fact thats she was the weak link of the team ,was part of the reason why Obito got crushed in the first place.

_ONE change in the past will change everything in the future - this is the grand rule. It cannot remain only a romantic ObiRin fic as long as bigger conflicts arise from the ONE change of making ObiRin possible. And I must say this is the best part of writing an AU fic - there are so much things to analyse and guess!_

_As for Hiruzen and his wife (agh, I can't remember her name right now...), they have become Elders of Konoha, backing Minato. And I should mention another consequence of my changes: same is Uchiha Kagami (Shisui's father) - and Shisui, of course... same as more other Uchiha. _

_As for Rin 'being stronger'... I have never seen Rin as a weak character, no. She got caught that time, yes. But the two weren't doing any better against the enemy either - the blame for that day isn't on Rin, but on their lack of battle experience and team work._

* * *

"I don't like it that Konoha's most powerful assets are both on one front. I cannot yet trust Iwa and Kumo. The last war is still too fresh," Fugaku argued. The office was deserted but the two of them.

When coming to his office, that day, Fugaku had asked for him to be first in charge under the Hokage, in the war, as part of the pact for the Uchiha clan to remain on the village's side and suspend their revolutionary plans. As for Minato, he had found that to be in his advantage.

Uchiha were the hard to understand kind that people usually run from. But Uchiha were also just the kind of people one could want by their side. The Uchiha were known to be unbending, too stubborn in their beliefs, but that could be of good use for the village. Uchiha were also loyal to the bone and always stuck to their beliefs, with their pride of honour they had for blood. If decided to be on the village's side, they'd stick with the village, no matter what. Uchiha were also the kind who could be attached without losing their cool, at any times. And Fugaku was just the blunt, sober-minded person Minato needed at his side.

"Hyuuga are short-range fighters and there's nothing to do about that. And your clan members at their best in short-range, too. I cannot trust them either and I know they've only agreed to join when it was clear that, unless they did, we'd all be doomed," Minato replied. He had decided that the right thing to do in order to really win Fugaku's trust was to be frank himself and speak up his mind, even though he always reminded himself to still keep an eye on the Uchiha, for the moment.

The Council didn't trust this sudden turn of the Uchiha clan and were expecting for there to be a trap. Danzo, especially, argued it constantly.

After a meeting with the Council, Minato had been really troubled concerning his decision. That had been the moment he had received a visit from Uchiha Kagami.

"Hok... Let me just call you Minato, just this time; how about that?" the older man had told him kindly.

"That's perfectly alright with me, Kagami-sama," Minato had replied.

"Good," Kagami nodded gladly, yet in a somehow cool manner. Minato guessed only Uchiha could be so twisted as to combine the two. "Minato, I'm glad you made it possible for things to be solved this way. Take notice, I'm not saying that things are solved, but that they're on the right track to solving. I don't know what you told Fugaku, but I know that boy well. If _I_ were to talk to him, he wouldn't have listened to me, because I'm just another Uchiha. And you must understand, whatever he does, he does for the Uchiha's well. I think he would have looked at me as just another one cornered and deceived by the village, as he sees the Uchiha clan to be. But the village itself that you represent putting that trust on the plate for his beloved clan... that was something else.

"You know, Danzo constantly doubted my loyalty for the village because I wasn't the one to go and solve this with Fugaku - _after all, it's your clan_, he said. And Hiruzen was constantly undecided. But Danzo can be very hard-headed when it comes to emotions, while Hiruzen is always overcome by them. I don't want to speak badly of either my colleague or the former Hokage, but the reality is none of them can be trusted to take these kind of decisions. So don't take in account anything they say. Danzo cares so much about the village that he cannot see the people, while Hiruzen cares so much about the village that he cannot risk its safety at the least. You need to trust your judgement only in this matter. Do you think the Uchiha clan can be trusted? Do you think Fugaku can be trusted?"

Minato, put face to face with that decisive question, had sighed, asking himself what was the frank answer to that. "Well," he had spoken after some moments of reverie, "...I don't think that, after everything that's been going on, it would be right to just close my eyes to it and grant innocence. But a gut instinct tells me to go with it that way. If I am to be deceived, that would be my mistakes - I'll take responsibility for it."

And so, beside the few second thoughts concerning all of this, Minato was now working side by side with Fugaku, mostly forgetting about his precautions. "Yes, most of our troops will be in the short-range front, but we'll have the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans and many others. We have only the Aburame and just a few others in long-range...," he pointed each front on the map, placed on the desk between them.

"There are many Uchiha who could as well be moved in any of the other fronts," Fugaku said, eyeing him.

"Then I'll let you select a part of them to fit in long-range," Minato agreed. That was another bit of trust which seemed to have a good effect on Fugaku. It was good to do let Fugaku really take part in such decisions. Honestly, all of his decision were well-intended and well thought, so Minato had nothing to complain about - on the contrary. "I trust the Uchiha can keep an eye on them without so subtle it won't notice. Actually...," Minato scratched the back of his head, narrowing his eyes at the sheets of paper spread all around the map, with the distributed ninja of Hidden Leaf, "It hasn't yet come to a decision concerning the head of this front. I'll propose Itachi for this. I really had no idea where to place him. He can work perfectly with any range. But as this front is most problematic for Konoha, it would be the wisest," he concluded. "We don't have heads in any other front, so they'd have to accept it."

"The faces they'll make... They'll think we're joking when they'll see he's apparently just a young child," Fugaku commented, somehow high and mighty.

"And the faces they'll make when they'll realize how wrong they were...," Minato added knowingly with a puff.

* * *

"Tomorrow," Rin said, stretching her arms, looking in the distance. She and Kakashi were at the exit of one of the medical tents, legs crossed on the ground, watching the sunset. The tents were all deserted for now, but medic nins would arrived in less than a couple hours. And tomorrow there would surely be waves of wounded to join.

"Yes. Tomorrow," Kakashi nodded thoughtfully, watching the many colours cascading all around the sun.

"We might die tomorrow," Rin pointed out casually.

"We do," Kakashi nodded again, keeping on gazing.

"You two are very optimistic," Anko joined them, throwing herself next to them, crossing her legs.

"Well, if we lose the war, everyone dies," Kakashi raised his shoulders in a carefree manner.

"That's true, I guess," Anko said, turning to him, "That's why I cannot even imagine that possibility."

Kakashi looked up at her, too, looking thoughtful. "Well, anything is possible...," he raised his shoulders once again. "At least... it won't just matter anymore."

"What do you mean?" None of them raised their voices a bit, but tension was present. But Rin did not mind them - she kept gazing in the distance, probably caught in her own thoughts.

"I mean that, if the enemy's plan's succeeds, we won't even have idea of what happened - everything will be gone."

"And you can say that so peacefully?"

"It would be peacefully."

"Are you not thinking straight right now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we'd be as good as dead. Same would be everyone we know. And take it into account that we'd still see many of the ones we know die before our own 'death'. That they'd be brought back afterwards... I don't care. It's not as if we'd really still be alive ourselves, not to mention them."

"Hmpf," Kakashi snorted, quite amused, "let me guess you do care for 'anyone out there', after all."

"Well...," she muttered, "I don't wish the death of 'anyone out there', though."

"You're strange," he said so directly. How dare he...?

"Oh, and _you_'re the one talking?"

"Don't feel offended. It's a characteristic of this team after all. Let's say you qualify."

"Oh, so this far I was only in the trial period," she snorted. This guy was sometimes so hard to deal with. "Did you clean your house before you left?"

"No, if I died, it would be a waste of time."

"When it comes to him, it is a waste of time any time," Rin finally joined the conversation.

"We are ready to start a war and suddenly the topic of the day and main problem is my lack of order?"

"At least you admit it's a problem," Rin nodded gravely, acting concerned.

"When you think about it, it may be just habit, but it also could be something more...," Anko joined the game.

"Come on...," Kakashi pouted irritatedly.


	23. The Process of Creating a Catastrophe

**A/N:** _My bad... it took me an eternity to write this. But this is the life. And life is too busy right now. However, I'm not abandoning any story and I'll TRY to post sooner next time._

* * *

Obito raised his head from the desk and rubbed his eyes, feeling tired, and then let it down again slowly, resting on the arms now crossed on the desk. Looking to the left, he saw the new mask, grey and grotesque, laid down there, next to his face, as if threatening to fly to his face like a malleable liquid and become one and the same with it forever, clearing the last evidence of his identity. For a mere second, the thought scared him. And he looked away, shook his head to throw silly thoughts like that out of it, and got up. It seemed that resting was not going to work out well, after all.

He was ready to walk out the door when he had this feeling that something was missing. _Oh, right._ He walked back and picked up that mask without even glancing at it and put it on just the same, his gaze dead, lost.

A Zetsu clone crept through the door, his normally chalk coloured face managing to look somehow paler than usual. "Too-bi," he sang in a pitiful way.

The young man just faced him as a sign that he was going to listen.

"The creep-py guy. He's here and he's angry," the clone muttered still hidden behind the cracked door and he saw some kind of mad contentment growing in red eyes in the gaps. Strange, the clone could remember there being only one. But who was he to question?

"Good. I'll handle that. Get back on your position."

"Understood," the clone left the place quite confused, but content that the news did not turn into thunders in his ears and lighting at his head.

Obito took one last look at the disorder his plans and documents had been left in. Misplacing things bugged him and he couldn't help but feel quite internally terrorized in those times he had visited Kakashi. _Kakashi... Rin..._ How were they?

He promised it to himself back then. He promised that no matter what, she would not die. That he'd never let the real, irreplacable Rin have her place taken by a mirage. But he did no longer know how to make that possible when she was on the other side of the rope he was pulling. He was pulling on this side and she and Kakashi were pulling, with many others, at the other. Someone had to fall in the mud hole. And he could not let that be him. And, if the other side fell, they fell together, the ones he cared about along with them.

Ah, but he could not think of that right then.

And the disarranged desk could as well wait.

* * *

Far from angered, Orochimaru was sneering. He had seated himself on a hair, leaning against its back, every inch of his body relaxed. At the sight of Obito, who was not in a hurry himself, he got up slowly and quite elegantly. The sneer did not fade. Actually, it was starting to get wider and become a scary sight.

"Glad you took the time to join me, Uchiha-san," he started galantly, walking across the room, passing Obito.

Obito did not turn to follow his movements and just let him be, waiting patiently for what he already knew was going to happen.

"Tell me, Uchiha who are you?" Orochimaru hissed and one could still hear the sneer in his voice.

"What's with the useless question?" Obito asked, perfectly calm.

Just that right moment, a loud sound echoed somewhere oppossed to where Obito was sitting. A massive wooden - had fallen there - a tall wooden container had been placed there, in the darker side of the room, so Obito would not observe it; he hadn't. Yet, he was not surprised at all.

In the box, sitting perfectly straight, there was a young Madara, his eyes closed.

"I've been working hard to find a DNA sample of Senju Hashirama, years ago," Orochimaru talked once again from behind Obito. "Digged the soil at the Valley of the End for the least trace of it. I did not find any of the legendary Senju (I eventually did manage to break the seal to his tomb, so nevermind that), but I found some of the Uchiha legend. Not much, you can imagine. So many years. So many rains. I had to work some on it, in my laboratory, to make it usable. So much work wasn't going to be wasted just like that. So I kept it for a special occasion. A day like this is a special ocasion, don't you think?" he followed with a creepy grin, showing off two lines of quite sharp teeth.

The young Madara opened his eyes. The apparition of the Rinnegan had Orochimaru flustered for a moment, but his grin grew instantly at the realization that those eyes were now in his posession as well.

"Uchiha who are you?" he asked again.

"Again, what's with the useless question?" Obito asked again, too, sounding a bit bored as he continued looking at the content of the woden box, who turned his head to the left and then to the right, as if awakening after an uncomfortable sleep, and stepped out the box.

Orochimaru was stunned - he had not yet commanded anything. How...?

However, the newly revived Madara ignored the person in the back at all and just instantly set his eyes on Obito. "Wearing masks, lately?" Madara puffed and took a look lower, at his hands. "This is not the revival I asked for," he commented harshly. "What happened with the kid I gave the Rinnegan to? He was supposed to do the job."

"And he will," Obito said, his voice betraying a lack of patience. "For now, however, immortality and unlimited chakra will only do good."

Orochimaru watched the scene attentively. The presence of the Uchiha legend was powerful, overhelming. Uchiha Madara had the scary aura, emanding the world to kneel in front of him. Orochimaru was not the type to do so, thouh, still he had felt a chill down his spine, to know that kiling machine had will of his own. Had it been foolish to believe he could control the will of someone like Madara? But then again, he had tried controling The First before and that had worked perfectly. It was a sure fact that The First was more powerful. What was it then? The Rinnegan made the difference?

The impostor in the mask surprised him a bit. Not only that the preence of Madara did not afect him anyhow, but he also didn't mind being disrespectful, like he couldn't care less. These two knew each other for sure, but how well did they know each other?

Quite funny if you think of it from that side, but he had wanted to teach the fake Madara a lesson and ended up doing giving him just what fake Madara wanted to, and on a silver plate.

* * *

"Minato, isn't a great time for us to meet again?" Jiraiya's voice boomed, as he slammed the door of the office open.

"The greatest, sensei," Minato got up and smiled. If this wasn't the worst time to make jokes... but he really had missed the man. "Glad you could come, too, Tsunade-sama," he nodded in the blonde woman's direction as she entered the room the way any normal human being would, rolling her eyes. A grown-up Shizune followed her obediently, murmuring a, "Good evening, Hokage-sama."

"How would your medical corps manage without me?" Tsunade replied, taking a seat.

"How's my godson?" Jiraiya totally ignored the war topic.

"In the past years, he almost died, developed a strange fondness for the colour orange and learnt to use kunai quite well. This autumn, he enters the academy... if the world survives, of course," Minato summed things up, casually and with a trace of dark humour.

"How lovely. How did he manage the 'almost died' part? With the kunai?"

"Actually, no. He..."

"Uh-hum," Tsunade came in between, "Don't we have other things to be concerned about?"

"Ah," Jiraiya sighed with a smirk, "insensitive as always..."

The clenching fist made everyone understand that Jiraiya should shut up - including Jiraiya.

* * *

"Deserting?" Kakashi shouted to her with a grin, his mask covering just up to the chin.

Anko turned around, holding the warm cloak tighter to her body. "So funny. Is that humour natural or are you practising it?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're nervous for the war," he joined her and they starting walking together; she, grasping tightly her cloak, he, with his hands in his trousers' pockets.

"I've been through war, too. Nothing new, I guess, except we don't really know much about our enemy. What's bugging me is that I still can't understand it," she said, thoughtfully watching her feet as she walked.

"Understand what?"

"War."

" It seems I'm in the team of the thoughtful ones. Rin also says she can't understand. Obito, too... Used to," he corrected himself right away, "He also used to talk about such things." Actually, back when they were children, Obito had said nothing of such. And he didn't talk about it

much, after, either. But Kakashi had his own thoughts about what was happening.

"So you don't fit in."

"No," he raised his shoulders. "I figured it cannot be understood. I guess it just happened that, one time in history, two opposing parties decided this was the way to solve their problem and so it remained since then. They did not question it back then and just made it bigger and more complex, so it is futile to try and explain it now."

"Aren't we taught, as ninja, that, in order to bring down an opponent, we need to understand his schemes. How do we defeat war without understanding it?"

"He, I guess it's that time between night and day..."

"Hm?"

"You know, 4 am - the time of philosophical thoughts."

"Sunrise is soon, then."

"War is soon, then."

"We should use these couple hours of sleep."

"Yes," he nodded, and they turned around, taking the way to the camp.

"Kakashi," she spoke as he was walking further, to the men's side of camp.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder, waiting. As she stood there, with an uneasy expression, she seemed almost too normal to be Anko.

"It was great, having a new team."

"Talking in the past tense?"

"In case any of us will die..."

"None of us dies tomorrow," he said strangely stubborn and walked away.


End file.
